callsigndragon

[callsigndragon]

Hi!

I know, I know. I DISAPPEARED. I WAS GOING THROUGH A HARD TIME AND I HAD TO DEAL WITH IT 😭

Buuuuuut we're back! (Kinda)

Still don't know when I'll be posting again? Major writer block, babyyyy

[callsigndragon]

Excuse me while I go anD CRY

Aurora I hope you heard Bradley's confession 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Hold On

Title and chapter loosely inspired the song “Hold On” by Chord Overstreet. 

Summary: The night doesn’t go as anyone had planned, and truths are revealed as Aurora fights for her life.

Warnings: Mentions of bombing, torture (past case) and medical talk. Lots of angst in this one. 

Word Count: 4.8k

A/N: I’m sorry for not updating in a while! I hope this chapter makes up for it! We’re a few chapters away from the story ending, and I’m not ready to let it go just yet 😭 I have some works in progress though! 🫣 Thank you always to my beta reader and editor @reginleight

Also, I'm 10 followers away from 100?? That's so crazy to me! 🥺

So enjoy this chapter for now, and thank you everyone for your support if you’re still here reading this! 💜

As always, likes are great and all, but comments, reblogs, and feedback are highly appreciated and loved! 🤭

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Bradley hated the hospital.

It brought up too many bad memories. His car crash when he was in high school, visiting his mom when she had cancer, the many times he’s been in a flight accident, and seeing his godfather almost not make it from throat cancer. The hospital was not a good place for him, especially now.

“Where is my daughter?!” Maverick rushes up to the front desk of the hospital. He, Peyton, and Bradley drove in one car together as soon as they heard the news.

“Sir, calm down,” the receptionist said in a calm manner.

“I will not calm down! Where is she?!”

“Mav,” a voice spoke from the waiting room.

Peyton, Bradley, and Maverick turned to see Penny standing there, while Amelia was sitting in a chair, Carole and Goose sitting next to her. Maverick went straight to Penny as she latched onto him for a hug.

Peyton went to Amelia who was bawling her eyes out. She had CJ in her arms, since CJ was a certified therapy dog he was allowed to stay with them.

Bradley walked to his parents, who stood up and hugged their son. He was still shaking from the news.

“What’s the update, Pen?” Maverick sniffles, pulling back from the embrace.

“We don’t have anything yet, just that she’s in surgery.”

“Surgery?! What happened? What-” Peyton asks from his spot next to Amelia.

“Y-you didn’t see the n-news?” Amelia hiccups from her tears.

“What news?” Bradley turns to ask her. Amelia points at the TV and the pilots soon gaped at it.

The news headlines read “Suicide Bomber. One Dead; Few Injured. Bombing Closes NCIS Case.”

“R-rory was t-there when it happened,” Amelia whispers.

“She was out on the field?! I thought she was on desk duty!” Maverick exclaims.

“We brought her in for a case,” a firm voice spoke up, everyone in the room turning to see a group of people.

An older man with graying hair who had a stoic look on his face. Standing next to him was a man the same height as the older gentlemen with dark brown hair and a third man who was shorter and had lighter brown hair.

Trailing behind them were two women, one with darker hair tied back into a ponytail and the other dressed in a goth-like style, but looked like she was the one crying the most besides Amelia.

Bradley recognized them as Aurora’s old team in Washington.

“Agent Gibbs,” Maverick approaches them.

“Captain,” Gibbs responds as Maverick and Penny walk closer to the team.

“W-what happened?” Penny asks them, holding onto Maverick’s arm.

“Artemis went back into the field today for a case,” Gibbs tells them.

“Your daughter–” Tony starts, but his voice cracks.

“Saved a lot of people’s lives today, ma’am,” Ziva finished for him.

Penny gasps, while Maverick’s eyes fill with tears.

“She was the hostage negotiator. Once Artemis got the hostages released, she tried to get him to back down and prevent him from blowing the place up,” McGee explains. “But by the time we found out it was a suicide, it was too late. Luckily, Aurora ran out before the bomb detonated, but she didn’t make it to the barriers. She got hit by some shrapnel and lost a lot of blood.”

“We don’t know how bad it is yet. They’re still in surgery,” Gibbs informs.

The family pales at the information they had gotten.

Gibbs continues. “She offered to be the hostage negotiator. And with previous experience, I knew not to argue with her, especially since she was the best person to get all of those hostages out. Your daughter saved lots of lives today, you should be proud of her.” 

Penny sniffles as she hugs Maverick, scared about Aurora’s condition. Bradley stood stunned at what he had just heard.

He knew Aurora was a good NCIS agent, but hearing the actions she pulled today…what else had she done without them knowing, all the sacrifices she had made, why didn’t she tell them?

Gibbs’ phone rings, breaking the conversation with Aurora’s parents.

“This is the director of NCIS,” he explains to them. They nod as he turns to walk into a secluded spot to talk on the phone. The rest of the team introduce themselves to everyone in the waiting room, besides Maverick, as he had already met them. 

Later, Maverick had gotten on a phone call with Iceman to let him know the situation at hand. Bradley, Peyton, McGee, and Tony talk to each other in order to pass the time. Carole, Goose, and Penny are in a separate corner, Carole reassuring Penny that Aurora would be okay. 

Amelia had her head buried in CJ’s fur, not wanting to talk to anyone, especially since Aurora’s team had walked in. She kept her head down until she was approached by the two women on the team. She lifted her head up to get a good look at them. 

“Hi Amelia, my name is–”

“Ziva David, right? And you’re Abby Scuito,” Amelia sniffles through her tears.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Abby sits next to her, as Ziva crouches in front of her.

“Rory talks about you two a lot,” Amelia replies as she continues to pet CJ.

“She talks about you too, Amelia,” Abby croaks out before giving Amelia a small smile. “Aurora always said that you were the best little sister and skater that she knew.”

Amelia continues to pet CJ in silence, scared that she would burst into tears again.

“Did you know, CJ was a gift the team got for her?” Ziva asks Amelia, hopefully drawing her out of her thoughts.

Amelia looks up into Ziva’s eyes with wonder. “Really?”

“Yeah, and did you know Abby was the one to train him before we gave him to Aurora?”

“I train a few emotional support dogs before they get their forever home. I train a few seeing eye puppies too. When I started training CJ, I knew right away that he would be a great fit for Aurora,” Abby explained to her.

“Did she ever tell you why she named him CJ?” Amelia tearfully chuckled, as she wiped her tears with her sweater sleeve.

They both shook their heads before Amelia whispered to both of them. After hearing this, they all started chuckling, turning the heads of the people in the waiting room.

“I’m glad they’re cheering Amelia up,” Peyton sighs.

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” Bradley turns to look at the doors leading to the surgery room, hoping that there would be an update soon. He was patient with a lot of things, but this was the one time he couldn’t wait. Not when it came to her.

“Rory is strong. She’ll be okay,” McGee reassures Peyton.

“I’m her older brother. I should have done something. I should have been protecting her. I could hav–.”

“There’s nothing you could have done, Peyton,” Tony stops his ramblings. “Artemis already had made up her mind and nothing could have stopped her.”

“How did she get that nickname?” Bradley interrupts Tony, wanting to get his mind off of the situation. “Artemis? I mean Peyton got Apollo because he set a tool box on fire during a training exercise we were doing.”

“Dude, it was an accidental fire, I don’t even know how it started,” Peyton defends himself.

“There was a case,” Tony ignores Peyton’s defense. “One of her first cases as a little probie. We were trying to figure out the killer’s weapon of choice, which led to us believing it was an old throwing knife. Then Aurora kept going on about Greek mythology throwing knife uses, and how they were actually useful at the time. She wouldn’t stop rambling until she got her first Gibbs’ head slap.”

“Head slap?” Peyton looks at Tony confused.

“Yeah, you know? Like this,” then Tony proceeds to demonstrate the head slap on McGee, to which McGee retaliates and slaps him on the head back.

“Gibbs always says, ‘A slap to the face is humiliating. A slap to the back of the head is a wakeup call,” McGee explains.

“Does he do that all the time?” Bradley asks.

“It comes from a place of love,” Tony assures him.

“Also Artemis liked to play with and throw the knife she keeps on her a lot. And one time, Tony kept irritating her and she got tired of his ramblings and threw a knife at him,” McGee adds.

“Luckily, it didn’t hit me.”

“Sadly,” Ziva calls out from her seat, hearing the men talk.

Tony rolls his eyes.

“Let’s just say, Tony has been on the receiving end of the knife many times,” McGee chuckles.

This gets a chuckle out of Peyton and Bradley too at the story. Hearing some of the shenanigans Aurora got up to with her team made them feel a bit better, but the waiting went on, sinking them both back into worry.

—

A few hours had passed, Amelia was taking a nap in the chair, CJ sleeping on her lap. Ziva and Tony had gone to get food and drinks for everyone. Abby was sitting next to McGee, both had fallen asleep on each other.

Gibbs was outside taking more phone calls, as he was in and out getting calls from Director Vance and Ducky, who were worried about Aurora and making sure the case was closed.

Bradley and Peyton had passed out as well on the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, as they were exhausted from the emotional events that had occurred the past few hours.

Penny and Carole were still talking, as Maverick and Goose had gone out to take a breath of fresh air, when a doctor soon walked in, file in hand.

“Are you all here for Agent Aurora Benjamin-Mitchell?”

Penny stood up fast, everyone else snapping out from their conversations or sleep.

“I’m her mother,” she tells the doctor.

“The surgery went well, and we were able to take out the shrapnel.” 

Penny puts a hand over to her mouth as she gasps at the good news. Maverick, Goose, and Gibbs walk back just in time to hear this.

“Is she awake? What is it?” Maverick panics.

“You're the father, I presume?” The doctor asks, to which Maverick nods as he takes his place beside Penny, while Goose stands next to his son.

“Although the surgery went well, she needs rest. We had to medically induce her into a coma. We can’t predict what her recovery will look like until she comes out of it. These next few hours will be vital. We’ll continue to monitor her and run a few more tests.”

Everyone stays quiet as he tells them they can visit her, but it would have to be two people at a time, so as to not overcrowd the ICU and her room.

They all agree that Maverick and Penny should be the first to see her and as the two leave being escorted by a nurse, the doctor fills the rest of them in on the update.

“Right now is a critical time since we’ll be monitoring her and hoping she comes out of her coma soon. Some of her wounds did reopen old scars. Since some of those older scars were deeper, it was a bit harder to find some of the shrapnel, but we got them all out, we just need to wait for her to wake up to assess her situation.”

“Wait, hold on,” Bradley interrupts the doctor. “What do you mean by old scars?”

The doctor hesitates before reopening the file in his hands. 

“She has old scars from an incident from one, almost two years ago. There were multiple scars on her arms, back, and collarbone area, missing the vital organs, but enough to cause maximum pain. She had bruises and electric burns on crucial parts of her body. PTSD and panic attacks were also in her medical file, but she was getting treatment for it.”

Bradley, Peyton, and Amelia pale at hearing that.

“W-what incident?” Amelia speaks up.

The doctor opens his mouth to speak, but Gibbs interrupts him.

“I’ve got this, doctor.”

The doctor nods.

“Once the mother and father come back, another pair can go on until at least everyone has seen her. You all should go home and get some rest afterwards.”

The doctor soon leaves them to check on Aurora once again.

Gibbs turns to the awaiting eyes of Aurora's sibling and best friend. 

“Aurora didn’t want to tell you all yet–”

“Tell us what?” Peyton impatiently interrupts. McGee and Abby stood next to Gibbs, prepared to help him out in telling the story. Carole goes to Peyton trying to calm him down, and sits him next to Amelia while Goose takes the seat by Bradley, knowing how his son would react.

“About a year ago, we had a case. We were close to catching the suspect but before we could, he decided to get ahead and give himself insurance. He kidnapped Aurora.”

Bradley couldn't breathe. Amelia gasps, as Peyton starts to tear up. 

McGee speaks up from his spot. “We…we tried our best to find him quickly. But–”

“How bad?” Bradley croaks, his throat sore from the events of the day.

McGee became uncomfortable telling them, so he looked to Gibbs.

“He inflicted the fullest amount of pain that he could to her in the time she was there. Targeting areas that would bleed her out but not kill her, electrocuting her with a cattle prod to the point where she has electric burn scars,” Gibbs tells them.

Amelia immediately sobs while Peyton grips Amelia into a tight hug, tears running down his face, crying for their sister’s pain. Carole holds Amelia’s hand, her heart breaking for all of them. Goose had his hands on his son’s shoulder, who was still frozen from what he had heard.

“It took us 17 hours to find her. By the time we found her, she was covered in her own blood and fainted as soon as we got her to safety. She woke up a few days later, but stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks.”

The room stays silent, apart from the cries of Amelia and Peyton. 

“Is the bastard dead?”

Gibbs turned to see Bradley who was trying his hardest not to break down. He was not only upset, he was furious. Furious that he couldn’t protect her, mad at himself for not checking up on her sooner.

Gibbs nods. He and Ziva were the first ones to find her, and each took multiple shots at the man.

“I know it’s a lot to take in right now.”

“Why didn’t she tell us?” Amelia whimpers.

“She didn’t want to say anything because she was worried about what you would say.”

Peyton sighs. “She’s the one that got hurt and she worried about us.”

“Is that the reason she came back here?” Amelia asks Gibbs.

“She came back because she wanted to come home. Her panic attacks got a lot worse being in the field. She was going to therapy, but we all knew that her being home would make her feel better, surrounded by her family.”

Amelia nods before starting to cry again.

Bradley started becoming claustrophobic. He stood and rushed out of the room. It was too much for him.

— 

This can’t be happening. Less than 24 hours ago, he was holding her in his arms, now he may never be able to hold her again. She had suffered so much, and yet didn’t say anything. He should have known. He had so many things to still say to her, things he wanted to experience with her. But now he may never get the chance.

Finding a bench outside, Bradley sat down and buried his face into his hands. Tears started to run down his face as the emotions of the day began to hit him hard. 

Not long after he had sat down, the bench creaks from another weight sitting next to him. Bradley wipes his tears and takes his hands away from his face to see who had followed him out.

“Aurora talked about you a lot,” Gibbs breaks the silence. Bradley remained quiet, listening to what he had to say.

“She kept your bracelet in her desk, she was so scared to lose it out in the field. The first picture she put up when the team found out about her family was a photo of you and her brother. She kept all the postcards you sent her, and would always ask me what were good things to send for your care package,” Gibbs chuckles. 

“I knew she was a good agent, but I never knew all the dangers she had to face until now. I mean, she was suffering through so much and I just…I mean, I should have known,” Bradley whispers.

“You couldn’t have known.”

“I DID!” Bradley cried out. “I ignored all the signs because she told me she would come to me when she was ready. But this?! We promised we wouldn’t keep secrets from each other. This is why! How many times have I almost lost her?! How many times has she cried and I wasn’t there to protect her, to be there for her?! I-I can’t lose her, Gibbs.”

“You’re not going to lose her.”

“How do you know that?! You may not have known Aurora for long, but I’ve known her most of my life! How do you know that she’ll be fine?!” 

“Because she’s Aurora,” Gibbs states. “If there was one thing that Aurora stood by, it’s that we protect those we love. She kept this from you because she loves you and her family. She works and fights every day, just like you do to protect our country. She has the Benjamin-Mitchell blood in her. She’s a fighter,” he assures, placing a hand on Bradley’s shoulder.

Bradley sniffles and chuckles.

“She and Peyton say that all the time. The whole ‘Benjamin-Mitchell blood’ thing.”

Gibbs chuckles and retracts his hand. “She would whisper it to herself every time a case got rough. Guess I’ve heard it from her way too often.”

Bradley sighs before looking up at the sky.

“I can’t lose her, Gibbs. She’s my everything. I think about her every hour, every minute and every second I breathe. She makes me the best version of myself. She is the star I look up at in the night sky every time and know she’s always there.. Aurora is my home.”

Gibbs stills at hearing that phrase. Every hour, every minute, every second I breathe.

Aurora would always whisper that when she held a photo of Bradley and Peyton in her hands, doing the same when she held her bracelet in her hands as well. She told Gibbs it was a phrase that brought her comfort when things got low.

That no matter where her best friend and brother were in the world, she would always be thinking of them. It was a bond that no one could break.

“Aurora went through so much, but every time she came out even stronger. This time is no exception. She’ll be surrounded by family and people who love and care about her,” Gibbs comforts him.

The two sit in silence together for a moment before Bradley turns to the man next to him.

“She always talked highly of you. Said you were the reason she is the agent she is today.”

Gibbs shook his head. “She became a great agent all on her own. We work hard because you work hard. Each and every one of you who serve. Aurora became an agent to help protect those who serve when they come home. NCIS gave her that opportunity. You should be very proud of her.”

Bradley smiles at this. He was proud of her, even if he didn’t tell her often, he was proud of who she had grown to be. Even after all she’d gone through, she survived and she was still alive. That’s all Bradley could be thankful for.

—

Peyton went to take a walk inside the hospital with Goose, while Ziva and Tony arrived back to drop off the stuff they had bought. McGee and Abby had filled Ziva and Tony in on what had happened while they were gone.

Ziva goes to sit next to Amelia, who had just calmed down from crying, but still clinging onto CJ like a lifeline.

“Were you there? When Aurora was rescued?” Amelia asked her as soon as she sat down next to her. 

“I was.”

Amelia nodded at this and stayed silent.

“Your sister…,” Ziva started with a slight pause before continuing. “She fought her way through so much. She fought to come back home for you and your family. She told me that the reason she came back was that she was finally ready to let go of what had happened and come back to spend a life at home with her family.”

“I just…I wish I had known. All the sacrifices she made and all she had gone through. I used to be so mad when I never heard from her. When she came back, I was so happy to have my sister back. But, hearing that…I can’t believe I was ever mad at her.”

“It’s okay to feel all of those things, Amelia.” Ziva states, comforting her. “She always regretted not talking to you when she could. But this job takes a lot out of us. We’ve lost so much and sometimes when we go in a dark place, some don’t come back out. She didn’t want you to see her like that.”

Ziva lifts a necklace from under her shirt and shows Amelia. It was a necklace with a gold Star of David pendant.

“This was my little sister’s. Her name…was Tali.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

“It is…Tali was my little sister and, where I come from, there’s so much hate and violence. When Tali was 16, she was killed in a Hamas suicide bombing.”

Amelia looks into Ziva’s eyes, seeing the hurt.

“It tore our family apart, and we were never the same since. I was a Mossad officer, and came here to be a liaison officer between Mossad and NCIS. But long story short, I left Mossad and became an official NCIS agent. And then, your sister came into our lives.”

Ziva smiles remembering the first time she met Aurora.

“She was so nervous at first, but soon, she became part of our team, our little family. She is stubborn, but she’s loyal and she cares so much about everyone. She became a little sister to me. And I wouldn’t change anything. Because it has led me to where I belong.”

Amelia smiles. “She is stubborn. She gets it from mom and Mav.”

They both chuckle before Ziva smiles at her. “She will be alright. I know she will be okay.”

Amelia sighs and continues to pet CJ. “Thank you, Ziva, for telling me your story, For everything. At least I knew she had someone even when we couldn’t be there for her.”

Ziva ruffles her head, lovingly, just like how she would do it to Aurora. Abby comes up to give Amelia some snacks and water, and sits besides them. The three girls make small talk together as they wait their turn to see Aurora.

—

“Uncle Goose, I’m fine, just please leave me alone.”

Peyton and Goose were standing in a secluded hallway. 

“Kid, you just heard about what happened to your sister. I am not leaving you.”

“I’m fine!”

“Pey-”

“I mean, as fine as a brother could be from hearing that his twin sister was tortured and hospitalized before! Not to mention that she might not even make it tonig–”

“Now you stop that. Your sister is going to be fine.”

“Is she, Goose?! I mean you heard the doctor! She might not even wake up, and what’s to say her state of mind after!”

Goose lets him rant while Peyton paces.

“I mean, why didn’t she say anything?! You all knew, but she couldn’t even tell us! She could have died! She could have died and would we even have known?! Why her, Goose?! Why didn’t she say anything?! Sh…I…” Peyton puts his back against the wall and slides down it. He puts his arms around his knees and sobs. 

Goose goes to sit next to him, letting him cry his emotions out.

A few minutes later, his crying subsidies, and all that was left were sniffles.

“You know, you’re taking this a lot better than your old man.”

Peyton laughs tearfully as he wipes his face with his hands.

“That bad, huh?”

“I mean, you know your dad. He may be strong and reckless, but when it comes to you and your sisters, even Amelia, you are his whole world. He blames himself for what happened.”

Peyton scoffs. “It’s not like he could have seen the future, he couldn’t have known.”

“Exactly Peyton, which is why you need to also not blame yourself. Your dad, as protective as he may be, understands why Aurora did what she did. Working for NCIS and not saying anything. Because she wanted to protect you. You and your dad have spent your whole lives worrying about her. She didn’t want you to worry about this.”

Peyton took in the words Goose had said to him. He just didn’t want his sister to hurt anymore, he wished he had told her, but he understood why. He was proud of her, that even with all that she went through, she can still smile and laugh today. And hopefully after all of this, she wouldn’t get hurt anymore.

“You doing alright in there kiddo?” Goose knocks on Peyton’s head as if he was knocking on a door after a few minutes of silence had passed. Peyton laughs.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. She’ll be okay,” Peyton affirms not only to the universe, but to himself.

—

After Penny and Maverick came back from seeing Aurora, everyone went in pairs, Peyton and Amelia, then Goose and Carole. They were shortly followed up by Aurora's team in pairs of their own, Ziva aside, stating she didn't want anyone to see her cry and therefore went in alone.

After Ziva, Iceman and Sarah dropped by to see her. The only one who had yet to see her still, was Bradley.

“Take your time, B,” Peyton tells Bradley when it eventually came to his turn visiting her.

The sight alone of seeing Aurora laying in that bed, all wrapped up in bandages was nearly enough to break Bradley down right then.

It was a reminder to him that he couldn’t protect her, and that this time, he failed to be her knight in shining armor.

Taking the seat beside her, he watched the rise and fall of Aurora’s chest. Whether or not it was by the machine’s support, at least he knew she was breathing.

“Hey, princess.”

He knew he wasn’t going to get a response, but talking to her always made him feel better.

“The doctors don’t know if you’re able to hear what we say to you, but I don’t care if you hear me or not.”

Bradley hesitates before continuing to speak.

“Your team is pretty cool. Gibbs is really intimidating, like you’ve told me before, but seeing him in person, I see what you mean,” he chuckles.

“They told me about…about what happened, your scars, the panic attacks. Princess, I don’t know why you had to hide it all from us. I wish you told us, but I get you weren’t ready to say anything yet. Just know that when you wake up, I will spend every day making sure you’re alright, and the days that you aren’t, I want to be there for you. I will make up for all the time we lost.”

Bradley reaches for her hand and clutches it in both of his. “Gibbs said that the director of NCIS will be awarding you an award. But I know you don’t care about a stupid award. You did it to save those people. We’re so proud of you, princess. I’m so proud of you.”

The beeping of the machine fills with silence.

“So you keep on fighting, princess. Because, I don’t know how to do anything without you. Because I think of you every hour, every minute, and every second I breathe. Because, I love you Aurora, and I want us to finally have a life together, to finally be together. And I hate that time never gave us that chance, but if you just hold on a little longer, I promise I will spend every day fighting for you, for us.” 

Bradley kisses her hand as the tears run down his face. It soon was quiet, except for the beeping of the machine. All Bradley could do was watch her lay there, and that is all that mattered to him in that moment. 

Because that was the sound of her still breathing; alive and fighting.

- - -

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—

Disclaimer: This story is fictitious. All works are written by me and only posted here. Please do not copy, repost, or plagiarize on any other platform without my permission!

#precious nova #top gun #top gun maverick

[callsigndragon]

Hope you and your baby are doing well too! ❤️‍🩹

My poor pup is trying to sleep but this European heat is making it IMPOSSIBLE.

Almost 9 PM and it's 35°C (95 °F for those who use this system)

[callsigndragon]

Fe, please, don't make me jealous. If someone knocks your door, that's prolly me begging for a bit of cold weather

My poor pup is trying to sleep but this European heat is making it IMPOSSIBLE.

Almost 9 PM and it's 35°C (95 °F for those who use this system)

[callsigndragon]

Oh poor thing! This summer needs to be over already. It's worse than last year's I swear 😭

My poor pup is trying to sleep but this European heat is making it IMPOSSIBLE.

Almost 9 PM and it's 35°C (95 °F for those who use this system)

[callsigndragon]

My poor pup is trying to sleep but this European heat is making it IMPOSSIBLE.

Almost 9 PM and it's 35°C (95 °F for those who use this system)

#max the pup

[callsigndragon]

Do yourself a bit of self promo and tell me which stories should I read! I've been gone for a while I need to catch up a looooot

#top gun maverick #top gun x reader

[callsigndragon]

That small "hey" that wasn't even in the script has a chokehold on me i swear.

But this is kind of a reminder that not everything can be an enemies to lovers hahahahaha (i just can't see even a spark between Hangman and Phoenix. Heck, even Rooster and Hangman had more chemistry and I don't ship them HAHAHA)

How could you not see any romantic chemistry between Hannix in the movie?????

Hi anon!

I just didn't? I'm not sure what you want me to say here. Sorry my opinion on fictional characters isn't the same as yours?

We all like and ship different things. That's just how it is.

[callsigndragon]

I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE DAY ONE!!!!!!

Navy for the win (my personal shipname for Nat and Javy sdjdasd)

How could you not see any romantic chemistry between Hannix in the movie?????

Hi anon!

I just didn't? I'm not sure what you want me to say here. Sorry my opinion on fictional characters isn't the same as yours?

We all like and ship different things. That's just how it is.

[callsigndragon]

Prompt list:

#25 for a himbo Rooster pls (not a surprise…I bet you’re tired of writing for Rooster…but I couldn’t resist 🙈) 💖

𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚 𝕘𝕠 𝕚 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 | B.B

pairing: Bradley Bradshaw x reader (not use of y/n)

prompt: being reminded of them by random things around them

warnings: mentions of Goose

A/N: Best boy for my best baby <3 hope you like this one

Rooster didn't travel light for someone who had spent his entire life traveling, never settling down and always moving on to the next port as soon as a new mission became available.    

He had several items with him. Some were just aviator stuff: his glasses, his uniforms, patches from past units he had been at in the past... The usual.   

Some of them, on the other hand, were quite personal and random. You swear you see bits and pieces of him everywhere you go.  

Ugly Hawaiian shirts at the store near the beach.   

A small foldable moustache comb you end up buying as a joke, but something tells you it is going to be in his pocket everywhere he goes.   

You pay for a rooster plush as soon as you lay eyes on him. Your imagination begins to devise a scheme to grab one of Bradley's old t-shirts and dress the plushie in it. You know, to keep you company during those long weeks he's away.    

An old Polaroid camera, like the one his father had. The one he lost so long ago…   

He only told you about the camera once, but the excitement in his eyes as he showed you the massive Polaroid collection Goose amassed during his short time as an aviator was enough to make an imprint in your mind.    

You weren’t actively searching for the camera, but every time you saw a photography shop or an antique store, you had to look out for it.   

Today, luckily, you found it in the only place you weren’t expecting to: a garage sale.   

"What's this, honey?" He asks, dropping his phone on the sofa and giving you his full and undivided attention.  

"I went to a garage sale."   

He places a hand on his chest, opens his mouth, and gasps. "Without me?"  

"Yeah, but that wasn't my intention!" I was driving by and had a sense. I needed to get out of the car and look around." You nudge the package closer to him, expecting him to open it.    

"At least you brought me something."   

"You know you’re like a kid sometimes."   

"Charming, I know." He smiles while opening the box, his heart stopping for a bit once he holds the camera in his hands. "H-how... I only told you once."   

You smile, taking a place on the sofa with him and watching his face light up like a kid on Christmas morning. "I made it my personal mission to find you one."   

"I love you so much," he whispers while his lips brush against yours before pulling you for a kiss.   

@novastories

@purplevortexx

@kmc1989

#top gun #top gun maverick #top gun rooster #top gun fanfiction #rooster bradshaw x reader #rooster fanfic #rooster top gun #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw fic #rooster x reader #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x female reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley 'rooster' bradshaw x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw fic #rooster x y/n #rooster x you #bradley rooster x reader #rooster imagine #top gun x reader #top gun maverick fanfic

[callsigndragon]

I think I'm gonna come back to my not-writing-smut rule. I still don't feel good about it and I don't want to force myself.

I'm sure you horny babes can find maaaaany other places to satisfy all your needs :)

#top gun maverick #top gun x reader #top gun fanfiction

[callsigndragon]

I'm BLOCKING YOU.

B L O C K I N G.

My heart is broken. CompleteLY BROKEN

Running Up That Hill

Title and chapter loosely inspired by the song “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush.

Summary: Aurora ends up back in the field to help with a case. She starts coming to terms about her self-worth, but at a cost.

Warnings: Mentions of guns, bombs, cancer, and death/suicide.

Word Count: 6.2k

A/N: I’m so sorry for the cliffhanger from the last chapter! 😬This one also contains another cliffhanger so…🫣 I’m so thankful that people are enjoying the story and loving Aurora and Bradley as much as I do 💖

Btw, I have a note for the people I tag at the end of the chapter, so if you’re tagged or want to be tagged, please read the note after the chapter! 💜

Thankful always for my beta reader and editor @reginleight 

As always, likes are great and all, but comments, reblogs, and feedback are highly appreciated and loved! 🤭

Previous | Next | Masterlist

A few hours earlier

“You want me to do what?” Aurora looked at her boss with a confused look.

“I want you back in the field. Just for this case. It’s all hands on deck, and I trust you to be out on the field,” her boss looks at her. Agent Daniella Hopkins knew her agents' capabilities, that’s what made her a good boss.

“You know this case better than anyone,” she adds.

“That’s only because I was transferring the case into the computer, since I am on desk duty. I just help put the reports in the database,” Aurora sighs.

There were many cases and reports that got put on her desk, which she helped with typing and filing them into the system. The downside of desk duty. 

“And you know those reports will help the case. It’s an advantage so we don’t have to put another agent in the field who has no idea what’s going on.”

“But why me? I’m supposed to be on desk duty for a reason.”

“Because, I know you Artemis. As much as you’re doing well behind the desk, you’re itching to go back out in the field.”

Aurora stood in front of her boss, fidgeting with her bracelet behind her back.

“That, and you were requested by the team that’s on the case.”

“What team?” Aurora questions.

As if on cue, the doors to Daniella’s office opened, and Aurora turned to gape at who had walked in.

“It’s good to see you, Artemis.”

Aurora smiles, and walks over to give Gibbs a hug.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Aurora smiled at him before noticing Ziva and Tony behind him.

“It is an all hands on deck case, Artemis. Who else better to have on this case than you?” Ziva smirks as Aurora turns to pull her into a hug next.

“I never thought I’d ever say this, but I actually missed you for a moment there, DiNozzo,” Aurora chuckles. Tony rolls his eyes and simply greets her with a hug of his own.

“I don’t know, little probie. I kind of miss not having a knife being thrown at me,” he tells her.

“McGee and Abby are getting set up in the lab and we’ll set up in your office.” Gibbs interrupts their conversation to inform her of the situation.

“The fact you went from a cubicle to your own office is just unfair,” Tony shakes his head.

“Let’s catch you up to speed, Artemis,” Ziva beckons Aurora out the door. Aurora turns to look at her boss, to which she nods.

—

“I still can’t believe you have your own office. If I ask for a transfer here, think I’d get an office too?” Tony looks out the window of Aurora’s office before getting smacked on the head from Gibbs.

“This isn’t a social call, DiNozzo. We have a job to do.” 

McGee and Abby got to say their hellos to Aurora before Abby had to start working on some evidence for the case, while the team got settled in their temporary space in Aurora’s office.

Aurora was sitting on her desk facing the TV screen, while Ziva stood next to her. Tony went to sit at her desk (and began snooping), while Gibbs sat in the corner chair, sipping his coffee.

McGee was getting the TV screen ready to prep the case for Aurora.

“Alright, let’s catch you up to speed, Artemis.” Gibbs gestures to McGee to start.

“A petty officer in DC was found dead in a hotel room. Turns out, the San Diego office had put a nationwide BOLO search for him for his involvement in drug and weapon dealing. His name is Noah Ward.” McGee stated, showing the file up on screen for Aurora to see.

“I recognize the name,” Aurora stares at the profile on the screen. “He was in San Diego to help pay for his sister’s hospital treatments, but got caught by some local LEOs selling cocaine. He was about to turn the name of his supplier over, but he escaped before he could say anything and we lost track of him. He didn’t have any friends, and his only living relative left is his sister, Karli, who also didn’t know anything because she’s currently in a coma.”

“Well, now he’s dead,” Tony states.

Aurora turns to him. “No duh, DiNozzo. How did he even end up all the way in DC?”

“Fake ID got him a plane ticket to DC. He fled all the way to Washington DC to get out of San Diego, but died instead. We caught the killer, but it turns out he was just a hired hand, a hitman,” Ziva informs her.

“And did the hitman say who hired him?”

“Gee Artemis, now why didn’t we think of that?” Tony sarcastically replies. 

Aurora gave him a murderous look to which he turned pale and continued on to what he was going to say.

“All he said was that he was contacted via email and that all the money was wire transferred to his account.”

“I tracked the email to San Diego, but that’s about as far as we got. We can’t even get a fix to which area of San Diego, so we figured that it’s best we find whoever it was that hired the hitman since it is still our case,” McGee explains. 

“I wonder what was the reason to kill him,” Aurora thought out loud.

“Tying up loose ends most likely,” Tony shrugs as he starts touching things on Aurora’s desk. 

“You’re just assuming this, we don’t even know if it’s his supplier, anyone could have had a grudge against him. And stop touching my stuff, DiNosy!” Aurora exclaims, slapping his hand off of a photo frame of her, her brother, and Bradley.

“Aurora’s right. Right now, we need to find out where he was getting his drugs from and go from there,” Gibbs concludes.

“DiNozzo, you and Ziva go over his cellphone records and bank statements. McGee, keep working on that email. You and Abby can work on that in her lab she has set up. Artemis, give me any files you have on the petty officer, the ones you’ve put into the system and the ones you have yet to type up.”

“Yes, boss!” They all reply while moving about to their destinations Aurora hops back into her desk chair to get started searching for more background on this guy.

“And Artemis,” Gibbs pauses at the doorway before turning back to Aurora.

Aurora turns her head towards him.

“Glad you’re back on the team for a bit.”

Aurora smiles. “Just like old times, boss.”

—

“Work has been so weird without you,” Abby tells Aurora as she sips her Caf-Pow.

Aurora didn’t have any luck with finding anything in her files or reports, so she had decided to take a snack break and visit Abby and McGee in the lab and bring Abby a Caf-Pow and McGee a coffee.

McGee was currently on his computer typing away, while Abby multi-tasked and had a program running in the background while talking to Aurora, who was seated on a stool next to her.

“Gibbs didn’t even want to find a replacement, so the team feels empty without you in it. But we’ve been getting by,” Abby continues.

“I miss you all too. It definitely feels weird being at the desk most of my day, but at least it gets me home at night,” Aurora shrugs. “Unlike when Gibbs called us at 3am for a dead body and we have to work 46 hours straight,” She sighs at the memory, munching on her chips. 

“Oh, yeah! That case took way too long, I remember you were so tired you accidentally fell asleep in the elevator and Tony decided to wake you up with an airhorn.”

Aurora cringes at that memory. “And then I kicked him in the shins.”

“Fun times,” Abby nods while sipping her drink. “How’s your panic attacks by the way? Any bad ones since you’ve left?”

“A few, but not like how they used to be. So not too bad. Bradley helped calm me down, which was the latest one.”

“So about Bradley, please tell me you’ve made a move!”

“Abby!”

“Oh, c’mon! I can tell you’ve been anxious about something, you’re eating hot cheetos again.”

Aurora looks down at the bag of chips she’s been eating from and at her red dyed fingertips. Hot cheetos have been her staple snack when she’s anxious or overthinking, especially when she didn’t have her bracelet on her wrist during those times.

The team had seen her go through so many bags, especially when working a case. She had once made the mistake of doing paperwork while she was anxious and had to redo it because she’d accidentally gotten red powder over it.

“It helps me think!” Aurora whines.

“So, you’re telling me, you and Bradley haven’t had a moment or like made out yet?”

“Well, I mean there was this one moment-”

“Oh my gosh!”

“-but my brother accidentally interrupted us.”

Abby groans. “Rory, you just need to walk up and kiss him already! I don’t know how much more of your pining I can take.”

“I’m not pining!”

“Please! He so wants you!” Abby exclaims. “Like you both live together! How do you NOT have the temptation to like, do it right on the kitchen table?!”

“I didn’t say I haven’t thought about that!”

“Uhh, guys, I’m still here,” McGee pops his head out from behind the computer he was working on.

“Shush McGee, the women are talking here,” Abby sasses him.

“Not right now you’re not,” Gibbs walks in, coffee in hand. “Any luck with the background?” he asks Aurora.

“Nothing we don’t already know. Sister’s in a coma from a car accident for almost a year, Ward couldn’t keep up with the payments, so sold cocaine and weapons on the side from an unknown source up until he was caught, was then dishonorably discharged and was supposed to be tried until he escaped and that’s all the intel I have,” she informs him.

“I have a lead!” Tony exclaims as he and Ziva walk in.

“WE have a lead,” Ziva corrects him.

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” Tony dismisses. Ziva rolls her eyes.

“Anyways, we found the supplier,” Tony continues. “One of Ziva’s contacts owed her a favor and we found out that the supplier is a small group of people that operate in a warehouse near the edge of the city. They’re called the Dark Renegades.”

“I know of them. They've been on NCIS San Diego’s radar because they’ve been known to recruit officers who have been dishonorably discharged by the Navy,” Aurora pipes in.

“Why haven’t they been caught?” McGee asks.

“Because they kill their dealers and keep everything tied shut. The fact that Ziva’s contact found out the location is such a big deal.”

“Let’s go check it out. McGee, you stay here, send the warehouse floor plans to us when you get them. Artemis, you’re with us,” Gibbs orders.

“Good luck! Stay safe!” Abby calls out, as Aurora trails behind Ziva, Tony, and Gibbs.

“Are you good to be out on the field?” Gibbs asks Aurora in the elevator as they ascend floor levels to gear up.

“I’m ready, Gibbs,” Aurora reassures him. Gibbs gives her a small look of concern before he nods.

Ziva gives her shoulder a light squeeze before they all exit the elevator, Aurora letting out a sigh before she starts to get into her gear. 

—

They arrived at the warehouse and made sure the coms in their ears were working. Tony was suggesting an attack plan, but none of them liked it.

“I’m just saying, if we came from the roof, we’d be like ninjas, they’d never see us coming. It’s like in the movie-”

“We don’t even have the equipment for that,” Ziva interrupts him and sighs at his stupidity.

“We can use rope!”

“I’m not dangling from a rope just to enter the warehouse.”

“But that way is more efficient,” Tony points out.

“No, that way is stupid and would get us killed,” Aurora corrects him.

“According to the floor plan McGee sent us, there’s a couple of side windows we can look inside to get a visual,” Gibbs interrupts them as they exit the car, which they park a block from the warehouse so they wouldn’t hear them coming.

“There’s also a front and back entrance. Ziva and Artemis, you get the back entrance. DiNozzo, you check out the situation from the window, I’ll cover the front until we have a plan.”

They agree before splitting to get into position.

“You good, Artemis?” Ziva turns to her, making sure the girl is doing alright.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Aurora nods, gun in hand.

“You know, I missed this. You, back on the team. Us, the unstoppable duo.”

“I miss this too, Ziva,” Aurora smiles at her.

“Aww, they’re having a girl moment,” Tony teases over coms.

“You know what Tony-”

“Enough chit chat. What’s your visual, DiNozzo?” Gibbs interrupts.

“I have 6 men, armed, scattered around the warehouse,” Tony asses. “No wait, no. Scratch that, 5 more men, also armed, just came out of the back office.”

“On my orders, Ziva, Artemis, you go in quietly. Tony, you and I will take the front when they’re in position.” Gibbs orders them.

They were silent, knowing Gibbs would take that as their answer as they prepared to enter from different places in order to quietly infiltrate. Tony moves to meet Gibbs at the front entrance.

“Okay, Ziva, Artemis go.”

Aurora opens the backdoor for Ziva to slip inside, while Aurora covers her. Ziva quietly navigates through the back part of the warehouse, with Aurora behind her, making sure there were no alarms or any threats behind them. 

They silently enter the warehouse until the two come to a stop by a stack of crates, blocking them from the men, but getting a visual.

“Aurora and I have 4 men in sight, they all have automatic weapons on them,” Ziva whispers into her coms.

“Alright, you know the drill. If they start shooting when we go in, you shoot back,” Gibbs reminds them.

“Got it, Gibbs,” Aurora whispers. 

“Alright. Ready, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asks him over the coms.

“Ready when you are, boss.”

A few seconds pass until Ziva and Aurora hear the front door of the warehouse get kicked down.

“Federal agents! Drop your weapons!” Gibbs yells out.

The men in the warehouse start shouting and automatically shoot at them so Gibbs and Tony take cover.

At that signal, Aurora takes out the man closest to her with a shot of her gun, hitting his shoulder. He goes down instantly and Aurora takes another shot at the man next to the guy that went down, immediately taking cover after knowing that they would soon retaliate with firepower of their own. 

Ziva also starts shooting from her vantage point, not missing her marks, already taking down 2 men. Gibbs takes one man down on his side, while Tony hits one as well.

The rest of the men took cover and tried to shoot back at the agents.

Aurora moves slowly from her cover of boxes and peaks around to see two men aiming to shoot her. She quickly covers herself as they rain a bunch of bullets her way. 

“Artemis!”

Ziva yells out, gesturing for Aurora to move to her left. There was a big gap between the crates to where the shooters could get her if she wasn’t fast enough.

Aurora takes a deep breath and starts to move towards Ziva. Aurora slides out from her spot, left leg out, right knee down as to help stabilize herself as she takes her two shots. Both shots end up taking down the two shooters that were cornering her.

Still sliding, she ends up next to Ziva, safely behind the crates. 

“Nice move,” Ziva praises her.

“Nice shooting,” she replies back. “How many left?”

Ziva takes a glance, seeing that there was one guy left.

Before she could reply, Tony takes him down instantly with one shot.

“I think that’s it, but I think Gibbs is working on one more.”

Looking over and seeing who Aurora assumes is the leader, he was currently in the middle of hand to hand combat with Gibbs. Eventually Gibbs hit him in the stomach, then the throat, taking the man down.

“Clear here!” Ziva yells out from their spot.

“Clear!” Tony calls out.

Gibbs puts his handcuffs on the leader before lifting him to his feet.

“Let’s take him back to the office, hopefully we got our guy.”

“Don’t jinx it, Gibbs. I’m ready for this to be over,” Aurora sighs.

—

“Gibbs jinxed it! All of that and it turns out to be a dead end?!” Aurora groans, laying her head on her desk. 

Turns out, no one in the Dark Renegades even knew that Noah Ward was dead. They were working on a big shipment of weapons that they were getting ready to sell.

No one in the group even had the technical skill of being able to block a trace. Basically, they weren’t smart enough to block a trace via email, therefore they weren’t the ones to kill the petty officer.

Gibbs had just finished interrogating the leader, who was now being charged and sent to jail.

“Well, at least we took them down,” Ziva reassures her.

They were all back in Aurora’s office, trying to regroup to see what they had missed.

“Now we’re back to square one on finding whoever hired the hitman,” Tony speaks up from his chair, hissing from a bruise on his face that he was currently icing. He accidentally ended up hitting the side of a crate earlier during the shootout.

McGee and Abby were still in the lab, trying to crack the email trace. Gibbs was updating both Director Vance and Agent Hopkins about the situation.

“What if someone had a grudge against Noah Ward? I mean, he was selling drugs, maybe someone wanted him to pay?” Aurora theorizes. 

“Yeah, but who? He didn’t have a client list that we could go through. And even if he did, his list would be long,” Tony points out.

McGee rushes into Aurora’s office and puffs out air.

“Guys, I think Abby and I found a lead.”

They rush into the lab to where Abby and Gibbs were waiting.

“We were finally able to trace the email address to an Adam Lewis,” Abby pulls up his file. According to his file at glance, Adam Lewis was a Marine, honorably discharged a few years ago.

“He doesn’t seem like the hiring hitman type,” Ziva profiles from his photo.

“That’s because he wasn’t, but up until two years ago when he lost his daughter,” Abby switches his profile to the daughter’s profile.

“His daughter was another Naval petty officer that also happened to serve with Noah Ward. Her name was Isabella Lewis. She died from a drug overdose, cocaine was the source,” McGee informs.

“She was a drug user?” Aurora asks.

“That’s how she got dishonorably discharged, and then a few weeks after her discharge, she was found dead in her house. Her dad was the one that found her,” McGee answers.

Aurora’s heart broke hearing that. No father should see their child dead.

“So, I’m guessing Noah Ward was the one supplying her drugs?” Tony inquires.

“And you’d be correct,” Abby nods her confirmation. “But he wasn’t charged for her death because no one knew who supplied her drugs because Noah Ward wasn’t caught until a few days ago.”

“What’s the background on the father?” Gibbs questions.

“He’s currently working as one of the Navy contractor’s for IT support,” Tony reads from the profile.

“Which would explain why it took so long for his email to be cracked,” McGee points out.

“But get this when he was in the Corps, he didn’t just work in the communications unit, but also an EOD technician,” Tony keeps on reading out loud.

“EOD as in Explosive Ordnance Disposal,” Ziva confirms. The team stills at that information.

“That doesn’t sound like a good thing,” Aurora mumbles. Her phone beeps and she takes it out while Gibbs gives out orders.

“We need to find him. McGee, phone records and bank statements. Tony-”

“Oh my gosh,” Aurora interrupts him. They all turn to look at her. 

“What is it?” Gibbs asks her.

Aurora, without a sound, moves to Abby, to which she moves and lets Aurora use the computer. She pulls up a live news feed and everyone freezes at what they see.

The news was reporting live that someone was holding hostages at a local coffee shop near the navy base by way of a bomb threat. About 20 people were in there, and that the criminal holding them hostage was the person they were looking for, Adam Lewis. 

“No time to waste, everyone let’s go! Abby, you stay here!” Gibbs orders the team.

Gibbs, Ziva, Tony, McGee, and Aurora rush out, hoping they were able to make it in time to save the hostages.

—

“What’s the status of the situation?” Gibbs questions the lead officer in charge.

After explaining that the suspect inside was an NCIS suspect, the San Diego Police Department were more than willing to let NCIS be in charge, especially since they were still waiting for the bomb squad to arrive.

The police department had set up a ways away, with a few medical tents and a barricade in place.

“We can’t get a clear visual on the bomber,” A police officer on scene reports to them.  “He took out all the security cameras and closed the blinds. We can’t send a man in there without him threatening to blow the place up if he doesn’t speak to NCIS. We did a scan of the area and it looks like he put the bomb in the basement of the coffee shop, which is their storage space. If we don’t take any action, he will blow himself and the hostages up,” the officer answers.

“What’s the bomb trigger?” Gibbs asks.

“Remote detonation, he has the remote in his hand, but we can’t find a way to trace or jam the signal from the remote to the bomb.”

“How many hostages?” Ziva inquires.

“27, men, women, and children. Most are Navy dependents. We figured that he was targeting them because of their connection.”

“Okay, Ziva, McGee, I want you to secure the perimeter, see if there’s any other way to get a visual without compromising yourselves,” Gibbs begins issuing out orders.  “DiNozzo, you and Artemis stay here and wait for the bomb squad. I’ll go in and try to get him to talk.”

Aurora stays rooted in her spot before realizing what had to happen.

“Gibbs, I think I should go in,” Artemis speaks up.

“No, not an option,” he shuts down the idea quickly.

“Think about it, Gibbs. If I go in, he’ll see another woman that’s like his daughter. He’s more likely to be sympathetic towards me and let me release the hostages then. 

“No! Absolutely not, Artemis. You could get hurt.”

“This is the job, Gibbs! Please, let me do this. It’s the only way he’ll release them. I’ll keep him talking while you guys find a way to take the shot without triggering the bomb,” Aurora pleads to him.

This was Aurora’s shot to prove that she can get the job done. She needed those hostages out of harm’s way from the crazy guy and his bomb. She needed to prove self-worth. And to keep everyone safe. But at what cost?

Gibbs stood there thinking about what she said. Tony, Ziva, and McGee look at him in disbelief that he would even think about it.

“Gibbs, this is insane,” Tony hisses.

“She raises a good point. She gets him talking enough to distract him, and we attach a live feed camera on her vest so we can see the detonator,” the lead police officer inputs.

“Gib-,” McGee argues but gets interrupted.

“You distract him until we can take the shot and disarm the bomb. And if it gets bad, you get out. You get out fast and run away even if he tries to blow himself up, got it?”

“Understood, sir,” Aurora nods.

“Alright, McGee, hook a camera up to her so we can get a visual inside. Tony and I will coordinate with the other police officers right now to get any more information about the situation. Ziva, stay with her.”

They all get to work quickly. Gibbs and Tony rush out, while McGee leads Aurora setting up a camera small enough to stay on her vest.

“I can’t believe you offered yourself like that, Artemis. That was stupid,” McGee mutters as he starts setting up the camera.

“I have no choice. If it was Gibbs, would you say the same thing?” Aurora defends herself. McGee stays silent while Ziva coaches her.

“You ask him to release the hostages and get him talking and distracted while we figure out a solution. You may have to try and talk him down so he doesn’t detonate, can you do that?”

Ziva was nervous for Aurora. She’s  been in many situations like Aurora, but the fact that she’d now be watching Aurora go through it, didn’t sit right with her.

“I’ll be fine Ziva,” Aurora reassures her. “Can you actually do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

Aurora takes off her charm bracelet, her hands trembling.

“No, Art-”

“Ziva, just listen to me. If anything happens to me, I need you to give this to Bradley.”

Ziva brings her hands on Aurora's shaking hands that were clasped on her bracelet.

“Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“I know, but please, just in case,” Aurora pleads to her as she slips the bracelet into Ziva’s hands.

Ziva solemnly nods as McGee pulls Aurora away to put the camera on her. Ziva grips the bracelet tightly, before tucking it away into one of her vest pockets for safety.

“Alright, signal is receiving, audio is working,” McGee reports just as Gibbs and Tony come back.

“You ready, Artemis? You don’t have to do this,” Gibbs assures her.

“I do, we need to get those people out before anything happens,” Aurora affirms. She was determined to get this over with, but she was nervous. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“Alright, approach the door slowly, and just listen to me in your coms, got it?” Gibbs asks.

Aurora nods. She takes a deep breath before leaving the area and walking past the barricade, towards the door to the coffee shop. She opens the door slowly.

“Identify yourself!” A voice yells out.

“I’m NCIS Special Agent Aurora Benjamin-Mitchell. I heard you wanted to talk to NCIS,” she replies, slipping into the coffee shop.

She took in her surroundings and saw people scattered around the shop, all huddled, crying and scared.

In the middle of the shop, Adam Lewis sat in a chair, his right hand holding a gun, the left holding what looked to be the remote.

“So, you finally came. Took you long enough,” Adam scoffs. He sat confident, but Aurora could tell he was nervous.

“Let the hostages go, Adam. They don’t need to be here. You got what you want,” Aurora tells him.

“No! What I want is for NCIS to admit that it was their fault my daughter is dead, and that you should have done better.”

“Even if I said that, what good would it do? It won’t bring your daughter back!”

“Artemis, keep him talking, we think Ziva found a way into the basement of the coffee shop to try and disarm the bomb," she heard Gibbs say in her coms.

“Look, release the hostages, and we can talk about this, “ Artemis continued, trying to persuade Adam. He hesitates, getting a good look at her facial expression. She was determined to get the hostages out, but scared about his next actions.

Adam saw the determination in her eyes to do her job and get the hostages out safely. He saw his daughter in her eyes. 

A few seconds later, the front door to the coffee shop opened and the hostages came running out. Children were clinging to their parents crying, while some of the police officers were helping lead them to the ambulances and medical tents they had set up.

“She did it, boss,” Tony proudly says from next to Gibbs.

“She’s not done yet, DiNozzo,” Gibbs corrects him. “Status update, Ziva.”

“This bomb is way too sophisticated for me to disarm, I’ve never seen one like this before.”

“He is a computer tech. He made and disarmed bombs for a living. Makes sense why it’s probably hard to disarm it,” McGee speaks up from his laptop.

Just then, Gibbs’ cell phone rang and he answered it, putting it on speakerphone for Tony to hear.

“Yeah, Abs?” Gibbs asks on the phone.

“Okay, so I was looking up his background, Gibbs.  I found his bank statements and it turns out he spent most of his money on the hitman, and the rest went to a charity for veterans.”

“A charity? Why would he give away all his money?” Tony wonders out loud.

Gibbs was lost in thought before he was interrupted over his coms.

“Gibbs, I think there’s a timer on it,” Ziva informs them.

“How much time is left?”

“3 minutes and 23 seconds.”

“Try to disarm it, and if it reaches 1 minute you run out of there. Tony, what’s the status of the bomb squad, where are they?” Gibbs demands turning toward the other man.

“Won’t get here in time boss. They’re 7 minutes out.”

“Damnit!” Gibbs cusses, worried for his team.

He had Aurora talking to Adam Lewis and Ziva in the basement trying to disarm the bomb, he could only hope that Aurora would be able to talk him down, or Ziva disarms the bomb. He couldn’t lose either of them.

“Why would he bring a bomb to a coffee shop?” McGee asks from his laptop.

“Turns out, he and his daughter used to go there almost every Sunday since her mother passed away from cancer. It was the one place they shared together,” Abby answers.

“So what is his endgame? Why bring a bunch of hostages in and blow up the coffee shop?” Tony wonders.

“Should we inform Artemis of the situation?” McGee asks Gibbs.

“Not yet, if we tell her now, she’s going to panic. Which might cause him to panic and pull the trigger, remotely.”

“Boss-” Tony worriedly tries to talk him out of that decision, but Gibbs made up his mind.

“We wait until the last minute,” Gibbs orders, firmly.

“Look,” Aurora had her hands up, showing she wasn’t a threat. “I get that you lost your daughter, and I’m sorry about that. I know what it’s like to be scared that you lose your loved ones. I-I can’t even imagine how that feels when you found out what happened. She was a good person from what I read on her file, Adam.”

Aurora still stood near the door of the coffee shop. She had no idea what the status was on the bomb that Ziva was disarming or about why he was even threatening to blow up the coffee shop.

Adam looks at her sorrowfully. “You remind me of her, my daughter. Empathetic to strangers, brave, knowledgeable.”

Aurora stood silently.

“Tell me, agent. Do you have family who serve?” Adam wonders.

Adam could feel her sympathy radiating from her. He recognized the feeling anywhere, the hurt and pain of having someone that you love serve in the Navy. It was the same feeling he felt when his daughter had left on deployment.

“You can call me Aurora,” she replied, hoping to help build rapport with him, “And I do, my dad, best friend, and two of my godfather’s are Naval aviators. My brother is an aviation mechanic, also in the Navy. I almost lost my godfather in a training accident when I was little, and my other godfather to cancer.”

“Then you understand the pain when they leave, not knowing if they will ever return. But you never lost anyone?”

“I’m fortunate enough to never have felt that loss. I’ve lost many friends working at NCIS, losing a family member? I can’t even imagine. I wake up every day grateful for them to be alive, but your daughter Isabella wouldn’t want you to do this.”

“You didn’t know her! You don’t understand what it’s like!” Adam shouts. “To have someone ripped away from you forever and never see them again!” He was growing agitated.

Aurora stays silent. She had felt that feeling, she grew up with that feeling every time her dad left for a mission. The worry that he would never return. She felt that feeling the first time Bradley and Peyton were deployed. But losing someone to death, that was something she knew would break her, and she was lucky to never have known that.

“If only you had done your job, she would still be here! I had to hire a hitman in order to get the man that killed her! I got my revenge!” He screams at her, waving his gun around.

Aurora drew her gun out as a response. “Sometimes things don’t work out like that, Adam. Sometimes we don’t get the bad guy until it’s too late. There’s nothing else we can do. You blow us both up, and what will you have achieved?!” She cries out at him.

“I had him killed because I needed to make sure he was gone! I just want to hold my daughter one more time.” he starts crying, the grip on his gun loosening.  “It should have been me that died.”

Aurora’s aim falters as she hears this.

“How much time do we have left, McGee?” Gibbs asks as Ziva had left the basement and ran back to the team and the officers. They were behind the barricade in case the bomb was going to go off.

“Less than a minute left, boss!”

“Artemis, get out of there! That’s an order! There’s a timer on the bomb!” Gibbs yells into his coms.

Aurora’s eyes widened as she heard this. “It’s on a timer?” 

“I’m sorry, Aurora, I am. But I have to do this,” he cries. Adam just wanted to see his daughter one more time.

Then it dawned on Aurora. He was tying up loose ends. He hired the hitman in order to kill the man that caused his daughter’s death. Blowing up the coffee shop would put an end to the pain he felt losing his daughter.

This was his end game.

“How do we disarm it?” she worriedly asks both Gibbs, via her coms, as well as Adam.

Adam shook his head. “You can’t. I’m sorry.”

Aurora hesitates. She knew she should run, but she didn’t want to leave him. 

Adam looks at her. “Go,” he whispers.

“I-“

“Go! For your family, Aurora, get out of here!” he cries out.

Aurora quickly rushes out of the coffee shop.

Adam closes his eyes as she exits, waiting for the bomb to take him. A tear leaks from his eyes as he smiles. He could finally be at peace.

Gibbs spots Aurora running out of the coffee shop and yells for her, but before she could even reach them, the bomb goes off.

Everyone braces and covers themselves. A few seconds later, Gibbs rises from his barricade to get a glimpse of Aurora.

“Artemis!”

Aurora was a few feet away from the barricade, sprawled on her right side and laying limp in the grass. She was barely conscious, bleeding from shrapnel that hit her. It didn’t look good.

Gibbs, Ziva, and Tony rush to her, while McGee yells for a medic. Aurora moans in pain as they rolled her onto her back, waiting for the medic to reach them.

“Artemis, c’mon, stay awake,” Ziva encourages her.

“Medic! Where’s the medic!” Tony hollers at McGee.

“They’re on the way!”

“Hold on, Aurora. C’mon kid,” Gibbs brushes her hair away from her face.

She coughs before looking up at Gibbs.

“I just need a little rest, just let me close my eyes a bit,” she croaks out.

“No, you stay awake Artemis, that’s an order.”

“The hostages-”

“They’re all safe, thanks to you.”

Aurora soon starts tearing up. “I couldn’t save him, Gibbs,” she cries. “I couldn’t save Adam Lewis.”

“Shhh, it’s alright. There was nothing else you could have done. It was a suicide for him from the start.”

She glances at Ziva as her eyes start to flutter.

“Tell my family I’m sorry. Tell Bra-”

“You’re going to tell them yourself, Aurora,” Ziva grips her hand tightly.

“I’m tired, I’m just gonna rest for a bit.”

Aurora smiles before her eyes start fluttering closed.

“No, stay awake, Artemis…Artemis!” Tony calls out to her.

Darkness takes over Aurora and soon everything was quiet.

- - -

If you would like to be on the taglist or removed, please let me know! 

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—

Disclaimer: This story is fictitious. All works are written by me and only posted here. Please do not copy, repost, or plagiarize on any other platform without my permission!

#precious nova #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x oc

[callsigndragon]

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT HAPPENED?!!?!?!

Waves

Title and chapter loosely inspired by the song “Waves” by Dean Lewis.

Summary: Just when things are going well, everything changes.

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 2k

A/N: A shorter chapter for good reason. Oh and…I’m sorry about this one (but not really because I’ve been sitting on this since I started writing this story) 😬 Thanks to my editor and beta reader @reginleight 💖

As always, likes are great and all, but comments, reblogs, and feedback are highly appreciated and loved! 🤭

Previous | Next | Masterlist

“Today was a good day,” Aurora smiled, as she sunk into the couch.

“For once, I actually had fun. Even if it was with Hangman.” Bradley chuckled next to her, slipping an arm around her shoulders to bring her into a cuddle.

The two were sitting on the couch outside on the backyard porch after eating a late dinner with Peyton and Lucille. Peyton had gone to sleep while Lucille had gone to shower, leaving them to catch up with each other.

“Speaking of Hangman, I saw you two talking,” Bradley brought up.

“He wanted to apologize for, you know, the whole situation that had gone down.”

“Yeah, he apologized to me too before the game.”

“I’m glad he did,” she replies.

“So Mav and Mama Pen. Again.” Bradley brings up.

“I can’t believe dad tried to sneak out through the window like a teenager. It was honestly so funny to see. Peyton’s going to lose his mind tomorrow when he’s sober and realizes what happened.”

“Speaking of, I believe I am owed $20,” Bradley smirks.

Aurora groans. “I’ll give it to you later. If only they could have gotten together a few more weeks later.”

“I’m surprised they even got together again as fast as they did.”

“It’s always like that whenever they see each other again,” Aurora shrugs. “I just hope this time, it works out. They’re soulmates, just waiting for the right timing.”

Bradley hums at that. He always believed that’s what he and Aurora were as well, soulmates that couldn’t be together until the timing was right.

They hit a lull in their conversation before Aurora spoke up again.

“I’m worried, Bradley.”

Bradley turned to her in concern. “About what?”

“This mission. It sounds dangerous, and I’m worried about you.”

“You think I can’t do it?”

“It’s not that, I know you can do it,” she reassures him. “Your profile shows that you have the capabilities for this mission.”

“You looked at my profile?”

“Not important,” she cuts him off. He chuckles before letting her continue.

“I’m worried that your emotions will cloud your judgment. I’m scared you won’t come back home. I just can’t, I can’t lose you B, I can’t I–”

“Woah, woah, deep breath princess, c’mon breathe,” Bradley tries to calm her down before she gets too worked up. He put his hands on both sides of her face, getting her to look into his eyes. 

“I’m right here Aurie, I’m not leaving you. I promised you I’m not going anywhere.” 

Aurora’s memory flooded with a flashback from when Bradley had made that promise to her after their fight that one time.

“I was so afraid I was gonna lose you B,” she whispers softly. They were sitting on the front porch of the Bradshaw's Virginia home, snow was falling and it was Christmas Eve. She had almost lost him in a car accident.

“Oh, darling.” Bradley brings her into a hug and she hugs him back tightly, arms wounding around his neck.

“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?”

“I promise, princess.”

“You remembered?” Aurora whispers. He lightly chuckles, before answering.

“Of course. I remember everything with you, princess.”

He removes his hands from her face before tugging down the collar of his shirt and bringing up the chain with his dog tags and his pendant.

“Remember what you got engraved here?”

She smiles, before reaching out to touch and admire it.

“Always Flying Home.”

“And I am keeping my promise. I will always fly home to you. You are my home, Ro. Nothing will ever change that.”

Aurora looked into his eyes and saw the same love and adoration she always saw whenever he looked at her. She loved that look, the look that was made for her and only her. 

He cups her cheek before pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. She relished the feeling of his lips and blushed. 

They smiled at each other before Bradley withdrew his arm and went back to cuddling her. She buries into his side and sighs.

“Just promise me something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“After this mission is over, I want you and dad to talk. I know he pulled your papers and you’re still angry about it, but you can’t hold that hatred in for the rest of your life, B.”

Bradley sighs before giving in.

“Fine. I promise to talk to Mav when all this is said and done.”

“Thank you.”

“Anything for you, princess.” 

Aurora smiles happily. Everything was well.

Her mom and dad were giving it another chance and she had a good relationship with her little sister. She had her best friend and brother living with her, living closely with her aunts and uncles a few minutes away from them, and her best girl friend just a couple of hours away from her. She had new friends that she truly felt she could be herself around.

She wanted to freeze everyone in that moment forever. 

But unfortunately, life never gave her that moment. 

—

The beach day seemed to be what everyone needed but as soon as they were back in the classroom going over the maneuvers needed for the mission, everyone was tense. This mission was far more dangerous than they had thought.

Especially after Maverick told them the next phase in the mission, about pulling 9 G's minimum, which worried all the pilots.

Currently, Bradley was listening on the radio in the ready room as Phoenix, Bob, and Coyote were going through the course. It wasn’t until Maverick was following them did it all go downhill from there.

“Blue team, that’s a fail.”

“Level out, Coyote.” No response came from him.

“Coyote, do you copy? Coyote, come in,” Maverick calls out to Coyote.

Everyone in the room soon quiets because he wasn’t replying.

“Oh God, he’s in G-Loc,” Maverick says. In the room, Jake stands up and starts pacing around, anxiously listening to what was going on and hoping that his best friend would recover from G-Loc soon.

“I’m going after him,” Maverick maneuvers his F-18 to follow Coyote’s. 

“C’mon give me tone, give me tone, give me tone,” he mutters, praying that Coyote snaps out of it soon.

“Coyote, c’mon, wake up,” Bradley hears Jake whisper. 

“Damnit, Coyote! Pull up, pull up!” Maverick yells out.

A few seconds pass by before hearing Maverick speak out again.

“Coyote, you okay? You okay?” Maverick worriedly asks him.

“I’m okay. I’m good,” Coyote answers, after trying to catch his breath.

Jake releases the breath he didn’t know he was holding, while the rest of the room starts to breathe easily after that close call.

“Good, good. That’s enough for today,” Maverick announces. He was so worried he was going to lose Coyote for a second there. 

“That was close,” Phoenix proclaims, flying behind Maverick.

“Too close,” Maverick sighs. 

Then a few seconds later, birds flew into Phoenix's F-18, and all hell broke loose, just as they thought they were in the clear. 

“Bird strike! Bird strike!” Maverick called out, but it was too late. Phoenix’s left engine was on fire, and the plane was starting to go down. 

Phoenix was desperately trying to save it, while Bob was calling out the system mechanics, saying that the right engine was out.

Bradley worriedly listens to the radio, hoping Phoenix and Bob ejects on time.

“You can’t save it! Eject, eject!” Maverick yells to them. Phoenix and Bob both yell that they were ejecting.

Soon a boom was heard, and the room that Bradley stood in suddenly went silent.

—

Bradley sits in the ready room, staring at his dad’s old class Top Gun photo. How he almost came close to losing Phoenix, Bob, and Coyote in one day. How he almost lost his dad.

He was angry, and overcome with so much emotion. He knew he promised Aurora to stay calm, but he couldn’t. He was upset.

Maverick walks in and notices Bradley sitting, staring at the photo.

“They’ll keep Phoenix and Bob in the hospital overnight, for observation. They’re gonna be okay,” Maverick says to Bradley.

Bradley takes a breath before responding. “That’s good.” A few seconds pass before Bradley speaks up again.

“I’ve never lost a wingman.”

“You’re lucky. Fly long enough, it will happen. There will be others.”

Maverick soon turns to walk away. But before he can leave, Bradley speaks up.

“Easy for you to say. You fly like you have no family. No wife. You didn’t even get to see your kids grow because you were busy flying for the Navy. Dad left so he can spend time with mom and I. At least he had someone to mourn him if he had burned in. What would the twins even say if you burned in? Would they even mourn for their absent father?”

Bradley’s words hit him hard. He knew the twins always hated when he left because to him, the Navy was all he had.

When Peyton and Aurora were born, he thought he could do both, be a naval aviator, and a dad. He didn’t want to give up either.

But it turns out, he gave more priority to the Navy, something he had regretted after the twins had already grown up and started their own career paths.

Maverick knew Bradley’s emotions were getting to him, and that the words he said were hurtful.

“Go home. Just get some sleep,” Maverick ignores his words. He tries to walk out once again.

“Why’d you pull my papers at the academy?” Bradley stands up from his chair before turning to Maverick angrily. “Why did you stand in my way?!”

“You weren’t ready,” Maverick admits.

“Ready for what, huh?” Bradley huffs, walking towards Maverick. Maverick turns to face him. “Ready to fly like you?”

“No, ready to forget the book,” Maverick exclaims. “Trust your instincts, don’t think, just do! You think up there, you’re dead. Believe me.” 

“My dad believes in you. Aurora believes in you. I’m not going to make that mistake,” Bradley tells him.

Bradley felt betrayed by Maverick pulling his papers, believing he wasn’t ready to be a naval aviator. He wasn’t about to be fooled by him again.

All he wanted was to make his father, his mother, his godfather, and Aurora and Peyton proud. 

Bradley and Maverick were still huffing, chest to chest, until Warlock walked in.

“Maverick,” Warlock calls out. 

They turned and saw the dejected look on his face.

“Is it Ice?” Maverick whispers, to which Warlock shook his head.

Warlock was about to speak up before Peyton showed up behind him, tears in his eyes.

Peyton walks closer to the two before uttering the next few words that broke both men in that moment.

“It’s Aurora.”

- - -

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—

Disclaimer: This story is fictitious. All works are written by me and only posted here. Please do not copy, repost, or plagiarize on any other platform without my permission!

#precious nova #im gonna cry #bradley bradshaw x oc

[callsigndragon]

AAAAAAA BEACH SCEEEEEENEEEEEE

Maverick stands with a “sorry, not sorry” look on his face, and Goose hits Maverick on the back of the head for interrupting their moment.

And the COCKBLOCK MITCHELL SAGA CONTINUES-

“Okay, but Game of Thrones is so much better than Lord of the Rings!” Mickey proclaims.

I need a lawyer. I have to divorce Miguel Garcia.

Maaaaaan I'm so SO scared of what's coming next I swear.

SHRIMP DON'T BREAK MY HEART-

By Your Side

Title and chapter loosely inspired by the song “By Your Side” by Conor Maynard.

Summary: A beach day is just what Aurora needed, especially surrounded by family and friends.

Warnings: None, mostly fluff.

Word Count: 4k

A/N: I’m sorry I’ve been a bit MIA lately! I’ve been prepping for new upcoming works and writing when I feel inspired. Please enjoy the beach scene chapter!

Also thank you so much for the recent love on “I’ll Be Waiting.” It means the world to me that people love my story and are invested in it like I am! Enjoy the fluff because the next chapters…well let’s just say, it’s not going to be as fluffy after this one…🫣

Thank you Jenn, for doing the text messages! 💖 And shoutout to my best friend, beta reader, and editor @reginleight 💜

As always, likes are great and all, but comments, reblogs, and feedback are highly appreciated and loved! 🤭

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Lucille → Aurora

—

“Wait, so you two almost kissed?!” Lucille shouted, almost spilling her coffee on the couch. 

Aurora blushes and nods as she continues eating her donut while her friend gasped in shock.

“Wow, didn’t know Chicken Little had it in him.”

“Lucille,” Aurora groans.

“Sorry. But holy crap. Didn’t know he had it in him.”

Aurora sighs, as she finishes her donut and takes a swig of her tea that she had on the coffee table. She couldn’t stop thinking about it and had wished so badly that Peyton hadn't interrupted them that night.

But was she ready to be with Bradley? She wasn’t sure. She had so much to still work on, the nightmares were slowly getting less and less frequent, but the anxiety still hovered over her.

Lucille was rambling on about how she was going to talk to Peyton about the cockblock until noticing Aurora was tapping her fingers against her bracelet.

“Hey, you alright?”

Aurora shakes out of her thoughts. “Huh?”

“You only play with your bracelet when you’re overthinking shit.” Lucille gestures to the bracelet.

She was worried about her best friend and while maybe they didn’t see each other much, Aurora was still Lucille’s best friend. Despite the distance.

Aurora smiles slightly. “I’m fine. Just work stuff,” she lies through her teeth.

She didn’t want to lie to her best friend, but she would tell her when the time was right. Lucille just nods, and takes a sip of her coffee when they both hear a ping from Aurora’s phone.

Penny → Aurora

“Got a bathing suit?” Aurora asks Lucille to which she received a smirk in return.

“What do you have in mind?”

—

Aurora knew as soon as her mom texted her, that she was up to something. She, Lucille, and CJ arrived at the beach seeing her mom sitting on a table behind the Hard Deck.

What she didn’t expect to see were a bunch of the same pilots she had met about a week ago to be playing what seemed to be dogfight football, something her dad, Uncle Goose, and Uncle Ice came up with during Aurora’s childhood years.

“Helping with balancing sheets?” Aurora looks at her mom, incredulously.

Penny chuckles. “You came, didn't you?”

Sighing, she shakes her head. Aurora soon spots Amelia, Aunt Carole, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Ice sitting under a big pop up beach canopy they most likely had set up a few ways from the water, but in prime viewing spot of the San Diego view, and the pilots as well. 

“So this is what dad meant by a surprise for the naval aviators?”

“Well, apparently he needed them to become a team and bond a bit. So I guess this was his way of getting them out of the cockpit and to have fun,” Penny answers her.

“I’m having fun just watching them,” Lucille muses. 

Aurora nudges Lucille, while Penny laughs, agreeing with the entertainment of the game and the view. She notices that Maverick had also dragged Peyton along as well.

Despite the fact that he’s a mechanic, he recognized Peyton as still part of the team and that he got along with mostly everyone on the squadron.

Amelia spots them, waving for her and Lucille to come over.

“Are you going to actually hangout on the beach though?” Aurora asks her mom.

“Yeah, I’m just going to finish this paperwork first. You go on ahead.”

Aurora’s feet soon touch the sand, and she releases CJ from his leash. He happily runs over to Amelia as Amelia chuckles claiming that CJ liked her better.

Aurora and Lucille all say their hellos, while Aurora puts her towel next to Amelia, Lucille doing the same. She soon realizes the person sitting next to her Uncle Ice.

“Hey, Slider! You’re here too!”

“Hey kiddo! Heard about the mission, I had to come see these new pilots. Can’t be better than us Ice, right?” Slider smiles at the man beside him.

Ice just shakes his head and chuckles. He was not ready to get into that.

“What’s up, burger man?” Lucille waves at him. Aurora chuckles as Slider rolls his eyes at the girl. 

“That’s not what my callsign means.”

“So what does it mean then?” Lucille wonders.

“Ignore her. Jet lag is getting to her,” Aurora interrupts her best friend.

“Bitch, I drove here.”

“Shush! I’m trying to concentrate,” Amelia shakes her book that she was holding.

“Melia, you’re not even looking at the book,” Carole points out, as neither of the girls were not even listening to her anymore.

Amelia, Aurora, and Lucille all look at the pilots, and wow did Aurora realize how much of a view they were treated to. Everyone was pretty much shirtless, with the exception of the girls. Plus Bob and Uncle Goose.

It seemed that Bradley’s team made a touchdown, so Bradley was doing a little shimmy celebration dance, a move Aurora was not a stranger to. It was a move he pulled often whenever they danced together.

She couldn’t help but to stare shamelessly at her best friend, his abs on full display. She was wondering how he was even so tan since most of his days were spent on an aircraft carrier. Aurora wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that she was full on ogling at Bradley, not even caring.

Man, was she glad she had her sunglasses on, but it didn’t help that she was turning red from all the thoughts in her head.

“Girl, show him what he’s missing and get over there,” Lucille encourages Aurora, drawing her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah, Aurie. He doesn’t even know you’re here yet,” Amelia smirks, knowing Bradley would be ecstatic to see Aurora.

The pilots still had yet to even notice the newcomers, as they were focused on their game. Aurora took that as her sign to make her presence known.

With her Benjamin-Mitchell confidence, she stands up and removes her shirt to reveal her black one piece full coverage bathing suit. It covered her back and half her arm, so her scars weren’t on full display, yet she was able to show off her figure. 

Lucille and Amelia wolf whistles as Aurora does this and walks over to the group playing. 

The first to spot her was Uncle Goose, who was not shocked to see her there.

“Hey, little star!”

The naval aviators looked at him confused and turned to see what he was looking at. Aurora smiles and waves at her Uncle.

“Damn, is that Artemis?” Fanboy asks.

Bradley instantly spots Aurora and freezes.

Sure, the two of them grew up with each other and Aurora had worn bathing suits around him, but seeing her now was different.

She was grown, and she looked like a goddess to Bradley, he couldn’t help but stare at her and feel some sort of way. Aurora always had that effect on him. 

Her dark brown hair with her faded blonde tips was tied up in a ponytail, and she had her sunglasses on covering her eyes, but Bradley knew she already was looking at him. 

He smiles and is the first to run up to her a few feet away from the group, hoping to get a bit of time with her before she approaches everyone else.

“Her and Bradshaw?” Payback asks Peyton, as they all watched him run to the girl.

“Not yet, but soon.” Peyton smiles.

“If Rooster ever gets off his little perch,” Jake comes up behind Peyton.

“At least he can talk about his feelings,” Peyton snarks back at him.

He had refused to look Jake in the eyes after what had gone down in Jake’s apartment.

Of course he had his fair share looking at Hangman’s abs, but he refused to give into wanting to jump Jake’s bones and stuck to trying to avoid him.

“Princess, you didn’t tell me you were coming,” Bradley smirks at her.

“Didn’t even know you were here,” Aurora grins back.

“And looks like someone forgot their swimsuit,” she points out, seeing that he was wearing jean shorts. “You should have told me, I could have brought the ones with the little chickens on them.”

She glances at his sweaty chest, and notices not only his dog tags, but also the necklace that she had given to him for Christmas, a plane pendant.

She smiles at it remembering what was engraved on it, as well as the memory of giving it to him before her eyes found their way back to Bradley’s.

“Tsk, you’d love to see me in those, wouldn’t you?” Bradley rasps, while stepping closely to Aurora, and tucking a piece of loose hair behind her ear.

She could practically feel his body heat from where she stood as they were flirting, her heart beating so fast wanting to just reach over and kiss the hell out of him. 

“Heads up!” a voice calls out, and a few seconds later, a football hits Bradley’s head.

“Ow, what the fuck?” Bradley cries out as he and Aurora turn to see who threw the football.

Maverick stands with a “sorry, not sorry” look on his face, and Goose hits Maverick on the back of the head for interrupting their moment.

Aurora chuckles at her dad’s antics, her face still a bit red from her interaction with Bradley while he rubs the back of his head. 

“C’mon, I want to kick your ass,” Aurora grins as she walks towards the group.

“Oh, you think you can beat me?”

“I’m pretty sure I proved I could when I beat you that one summer.”

“That was one time, and I had a broken wrist!”

“Excuses, excuses, Bradshaw!”

—

The football game definitely proved to help the team actually feel like a team. Soon everyone wasn’t keeping score and just having fun.

Aurora had joined the team that was against Bradley and Peyton and she bonded with Natasha enough to get her to take them down.

Peyton and Jake were still trying to avoid each other as much as they could, but at least they could look each other in the eyes.

Amelia had joined in on the fun by standing next to Hondo and helping call out penalties, she got so into her role she even had a whistle that Hondo gave as an extra he had. 

Penny had opened the Hard Deck for the pilots and the rest of the family a few hours before the bar opened to the public so they could enjoy the cool, crisp, air conditioning.

Carole had brought a bunch of sandwiches, where Sarah had made sure to bring snacks and of course, Penny provided the drinks.

All the other pilots were a bit intimidated with having Admiral Kazansky in their presence, but soon got used to it as they saw how he was letting loose, just as Maverick and Goose were.

The jukebox was blasting out tunes of all kinds, creating a fun relaxing atmosphere in the bar for everyone to enjoy.

Aurora was in the corner, playing darts with her Uncle Goose, Jake, and Javy. She was laughing as Javy botched his shot.

“Dude, why’d I even pick you as my partner?” Jake shakes his head.

“Shut up,” Coyote hisses. 

“And that’s how you do it!” Aurora smirks, making a bullseye.

“I taught you well, little star,” Goose proudly says. 

Lucille happened to somehow get sucked into a heated discussion with Mickey and Bob.

“Okay, but Game of Thrones is so much better than Lord of the Rings!” Mickey proclaims.

“You take that back! Bob, back me up here!” Lucille turns to him.

“Uhh, I haven’t seen all of Game of Thrones–”

“HA!” Lucille smirks

“–Or all of Lord of the Rings.”

“What the hell?!” Both Lucille and Mickey look at Bob, as if he had committed treason. 

CJ happily laid next to Carole’s feet, who was sitting on the bar stools with Sarah and Penny. All of them were sitting and talking, while Maverick, Iceman, and Slider sat in the corner of the bar observing the other pilots while drinking beer.

“We weren’t like this when we were their age, right?” Slider ponders. They were watching all the pilots in the bar, seeing them out of the cockpit was definitely a sight to see.

“I think we were so much worse,” Maverick chuckles, as he takes a swig of his beer.

Peyton, Natasha, Reuben, and Bradley were playing pool, but also trying to teach Amelia which wasn’t going so well.

“Amelia, you’re supposed to hit the balls with the stick, not try to stab it with the stick.” Bradley sighs.

“Why not stab, stabbing seems so much better and efficient?”

“I can’t tell if you’re more like your sister with the stabbing comment, or Peyton with that stupid comment,” Payback wonders.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Peyton looks at him offended.

Natasha sighs and mutters how she’s surrounded by too much testosterone.

Aurora and Goose high five, as they won the game of darts against Jake and Javy.

“How the hell did that just happen?”

“Don’t underestimate me, Javy. That’s why I always bring a knife to a gunfight,” Aurora smiles triumphantly.

“You do what now?” Goose looks at her concerned.

Aurora chuckles as Jake and Javy start to bicker about their loss and whose fault it was.

Goose pats her shoulder to head over to the men, while Aurora goes to the pool table to see how the game is going. Amelia sat on the bar stool, with a pout on her face. 

“Why the long face, little sis?” Aurora questions her sister.

“They wouldn’t let me play.”

“She tried to stab the balls with the stick,” Peyton calls out as he takes his shot at the pool table.

“It’s much more effective that way to get the balls in the pocket!” Amelia reasons.

“No, it really isn’t,” Bradley comes up and ruffles Amelia’s hair. She hisses and swats his hands away from her. He chuckles before standing in front of Aurora.

“Finished up at darts?”

“Oh yeah, finally put Hangman in his place and pulled one over on him.”

He chuckles, and leans in toward Aurora’s ear. 

“That’s my girl,” he whispers, before pecking her cheek and heading back to the pool table for his turn.

Aurora immediately turned red, feeling as if her heart was going to burst by how fast it was beating.

Holy crap, that was one of the hottest things she had heard from his mouth.

Lucille comes up with a drink in each hand, going to hand one over to Aurora before seeing her best friend stunned and blushing.

“What’s up with her?”

“Bradley whispered something into her ear and now she’s too stunned to speak,” Amelia responds, taking a drink of her respective non-alcoholic drink. 

“Ahh.”

“Shut up, both of you please,” Aurora pleads, as Lucille hands her the drink before taking the seat beside her friend. 

Aurora glances at Bradley who was standing behind Peyton taking his shot at the pool table. Noticing her eyes were on him he winks at her, to which she rolls her eyes and sips her drink.

He will be the death of her. 

—

The Hard Deck was now lively as it was open to everyone and some of the naval aviators were still there, with the exception of the older ones.

Since it was Penny’s day off from the Hard Deck, she and Maverick went for a motorcycle ride where Sarah and Ice went to drop off Slider at the airport. Goose and Carole decided to head home for the night, as they were still a bit jet lagged from their trip. 

Amelia was hanging out with the other pilots while Aurora was sitting outside on one of the tables, getting a bit of air as the Hard Deck was beginning to get a little claustrophobic. CJ sat next to her as she combs her hands through his fur.

“Wondered where you were, surprised you weren’t with Bradshaw in there.”

Aurora turns and sees Jake standing behind her. He held out a water bottle for her to take, which she does. She gestures on the other side of CJ for Jake to sit.

“Yeah, well you know me. I needed air.”

Jake hums, taking a swig from his beer. They both sat in silence before Aurora broke it.

“I’m still a bit mad after that whole shit you pulled you know.”

Jake sighs. “I know, and I’m so sorry, Rory. I even apologized to Rooster before the game today.”

“And I wish that was all I was mad about, Jake. I’m talking about you and Peyton,” Aurora admits and turns to Jake.

Jake puts his hand to his face. “Fuck, I really messed up, didin’t I?”

Aurora brings her arm out to pat Jake’s shoulder in comfort.

“A bit, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fix it.”

“Fix what? I screwed up Ro, he could barely look me in the eye. I don’t even know why he came today when he wasn’t even required to.”

“Don’t you see, Jake? Peyton cares so much about you, and if you could only hear him out, you’d understand that you also feel the same way about him.”

“But what happens if we break up, what happens if the love we feel for each other only leads to hate and destruction?”

Aurora looks at Jake. “Put your pride aside for once and just listen to what I have to say. Don’t keep pushing him away, or using him for sex because it makes you feel good. We don’t have a lot of time in this world. Sometimes love can hurt, but I think it’s better to love than not love at all.”

Jake removes his hand from his face and looks at Aurora. 

“You’re not alone anymore, Jake. You have me now. And Coyote and Peyton. Maybe even Rooster and the rest of the squadron. Let us be here for you,” Aurora smiles at him.

There were tears forming in Jake’s eyes before he pulled Aurora into a brotherly hug. She pats him comfortingly on the back letting him hug it out before he releases her. CJ yaps at him, to which Jake gives him a few pets.

“Damn, who knew you had all those words in you, Artemis.”

Aurora chuckles and smiles. “Therapy will do that to you I guess.”

Jake studies her for a bit. “No more nightmares?” 

“Not as often, it still lingers. I’m taking it day by day. But now that I’m home, I feel a lot better,” Aurora turns to see her brother, sister, best friend, and Bradley through the glass doors of Hard Deck. Jake was sure she meant home as in Bradley and her family, and not San Diego.

Bradley spots her, waving with a smile, before going back to listening to what Amelia was saying.

“You and Rooster talk yet?”

“Not yet, soon though. When the timing is right.”

—

“Hey, mom! We’re back home!” Amelia hollers inside the house.

“I thought you were staying at Aurora’s and Peyton’s?” Penny's muffled voice was heard.

“She was, but she said she wanted to come home, so we’ve come to drop her off,” Peyton calls out. 

“Peyton, Aurora? Why are you both here?”

“Bradley and Lucille took CJ home in the Bronco. Peyton couldn’t drive because he drank quite a bit so I drove Amelia home,” Aurora explains. 

“I only drank a little bit.”

“Peyton, you didn’t want to stay in the car because you thought that the neighbors were looking at you funny.”

“They were!” Peyton claims.

“That was their cat on the porch,” Amelia groans.

“Have you had dinner already?” Penny interrupts the conversation, while it sounds like she was fumbling with something upstairs.

“Not yet,” Amelia tells her.

“Grabbing takeout for us tonight, so don’t worry about us mom!” Aurora assures her.

“I’ll make something for us then, Amelia. I’ll be down in a second.” More bumping and shuffling was heard, which worried Aurora quite a bit.

“Does mom seem flustered to you?” Aurora wonders.

Amelia and Peyton shrug as Aurora grabs some water from the fridge. She closes the fridge door, only to see something drop outside from the window from her peripheral vision.

And then soon a person drops outside as well.

The person stands up, and soon Aurora, Amelia, and Peyton are faced to see Maverick staring right into the window, huffing from the fall he had just gone through.

“Am I still drunk, or did dad fall from the sky?”

Aurora elbows Peyton, to which he exaggerates and falls down from the gesture. 

Amelia looks at him with a serious look. “Just don’t break her heart again.”

Maverick slightly nods and looks at Aurora and Peyton, who had stood back up.

Peyton gives his dad a thumbs up, still slightly drunk and not understanding what was happening. Aurora just sighs and smiles at him.

“Don’t screw it up this time, dad.”

Maverick nods, before silently and quickly waving goodbye to them and getting on his bike. Aurora lets out a breath and looks at her siblings.

“Damn, I owe Bradley $20.”

- - -

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—

Disclaimer: This story is fictitious. All works are written by me and only posted here. Please do not copy, repost, or plagiarize on any other platform without my permission!

#precious nova #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x oc

[callsigndragon]

This whole chapter was TOO wholesome I'M SCARED OF WHAT'S COMING NEXT

Night Changes

Title and chapter loosely inspired the song “Night Changes” by One Direction.

Summary: Aurora spends time with her family, while Maverick is having a hard time letting go. 

Warnings: None

Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: My posting schedule is slowly sporadic. I've been on a week long trip enjoying my time out of the house. Also since summer is coming up, that means Top Gun summer! I feel a bit disconnected from the fandom lately, but I’m back and ready to keep writing! I hope you enjoy this fluffy chapter.

Shoutout to my best friend, beta reader, and editor, @reginleight 💛

As always, likes are great and all, but comments, reblogs, and feedback are highly appreciated and loved! 🤭

Previous | Next | Masterlist

“Mom! Dad! Over here!” Bradley calls out to his parents in the busy airport.

Today, the twins and Bradley were picking up Carole and Goose. The last she had seen them was around Peyton and her graduation. Of course she would still call them and send letters from time to time, but this was the first time in a while since they were all reunited in person.

“My Brad Brad!” Carole cries, as she comes over and hugs Bradley tightly. Bradley chuckles, and hugs his mom back.

“Okay hon, don’t choke him out before I can even give him a hug,” Goose chuckles, coming up with their luggage cart behind them.

Carole tearfully releases Bradley from the hug, letting Goose and Bradley have their moment. From just a few paces away she soon spots the twins, giving the family room for their reunion.

“My babies! Oh, my Aurora you’re here!” Carole starts crying again, grouping the twins into a hug. 

“Hi, Auntie!” Peyton laughs, hugging his aunt.

“We missed you!” Aurora smiles after being released from their hug, Carole turning her attention to Aurora.

“I knew Peyton was stateside, but when did you come home?” Carole asks her.

“Same day. I felt like it was time for me to come home,” Aurora softly smiles. Carole gives her a sad look, and Aurora remembers that Carole knew about her incident. Before she can explain, Goose interrupts.

“Little star!”

“Uncle Goose!”

Aurora gives her uncle a big hug, and groans when he tries to ruffle her hair.

“So glad you’re back home!” Peyton smiles at them.

“I can’t wait to hear your stories, Auntie! And the photos you’ve taken, Uncle Goose!” Aurora beams at them, while Bradley helps carry his mom’s bag, Goose pulling the luggage cart.. 

Aurora and Carole start conversing nonstop, with Peyton walking beside them listening in on their conversation. Bradley hung back, walking with his dad.

“So, talk to me Rooster, how’s the mission training going?” Goose asks, not knowing what had gone down yesterday.

“Intense,” Bradley sighs. “Let’s just say it was a rough day for all of us, and Aurora had an anxiety attack yesterday.”

“Shit, what the hell did you do?”

“Why do you think I did something?” Bradley looks at him exasperated. Goose gives him a look, to which Bradley sighs.

“I got mad. Hangman had said she wasn’t telling us everything and I just–”

“You were jealous that Hangman knew things about her that you didn’t,” Goose states, matter-of-factly.

Bradley turns red and groans. “I just, I don’t like when we keep things between us.”

“Brad, sometimes, things are harder to tell to those closest to us. You have to give her space.”

“I know. Let’s just say the tension was really bad yesterday.”

“You made a move yet?”

“Dad!” Bradley groans, while Goose chuckles at embarrassing his son. “We have a lot going on. It’s not the time.”

“Oh son, it’s never the time. But take it from your old man. I was thankful to live a life with your mom and you. You deserve a life with people you love, there is no perfect timing,” Goose tells him.

With a pat on the shoulder, Goose walks to catch up to his wife and his godchildren. Bradley sighs, following after his dad. 

—

“Mavy!”

“Goosie!”

Goose rushes up to his best friend, who immediately stands from his chair upon seeing him. 

“I swear, it’s like those two are married and not us,” Carole chuckles as the twins and Bradley also exit the car. The trio chuckles at the two men who were hugging each other, as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, when in reality it was probably only a few months.

Everyone was currently meeting at Ice and Sarah’s house as a small welcome back party for Carole and Goose. Ice and Maverick were sitting on the porch chairs until they all arrived.

Iceman shakes his head being used to the two’s shenanigans. Goose and Mav part from the hug and pat each other on the shoulder, before Goose turns to Iceman to give him a hug as well. 

“Hi Mrs. Bradshaw,” Maverick smiles, greeting Carole as she gets closer.

“Hi Mr. Bradshaw,” Carole teases him.

The trio greet their Uncle Ice, who they hadn’t seen since the graduation party. Ice gives Aurora a quick look, to which Aurora subtly shakes her head, knowing Ice wanted to discuss a few things, but now wasn’t the time.

Aurora and Carole decide to head into the house to help out Penny and Sarah, who were most likely in the kitchen, leaving the men out on the front porch to let them catch up.

Aurora spots Amelia playing with Ice’s grandchildren that were running around the backyard, Amelia looking tired from chasing them. She’d flopped down onto the grass, clearly exhausted and outdone by their energy.

Aurora laughs at the sight as she makes her way into the kitchen. She greets her mom and Aunt Sarah, and sits on a stool over the countertop so she could have a conversation with them, but not get in the way with them prepping food since they insisted they didn’t need any help.

Penny starts cutting up fruit next to Aurora, to which she leans over and steals a piece. Penny tries to slap her hand away, but because of Aurora’s reflexes, was unsuccessful. Rolling her eyes at her daughter’s antics, she proceeded to keep cutting the fruit. 

“So, little star. What’s it like being back home at a different office?” Sarah asks, as she stirs something over the stove.

Aurora pops the piece of pineapple in her mouth and chews quickly to answer her question.

“Different, but nothing I can’t handle,” she responds. 

“Well, I think we can all say, we’re all glad you’re home now,” Sarah looks over at Aurora and smiles at her.

“You can say that again. I don’t even want to know all the stuff that happened that you haven’t told us,” Penny sighs, knowing Aurora kept a lot of stuff secret to not worry everyone.

“So, you don’t want to hear about the number of times I’ve been shot at?” Aurora smirks at her mom. Her mom looks at her with a threatening look.

“What?!” 

“I’m joking! I’m joking!” Aurora laughs. “Not really,” she soon whispers under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, mom!” Aurora gives her mom an innocent smile, while Sarah and Carole chuckles.

“I swear, you and your brother give me gray hairs.”

“And Amelia hasn’t even decided what she wants to do yet. What if she becomes a Naval aviator?” Aurora thinks out loud.

“Oh no, she’s staying home until she’s 30.”

They all laugh at Penny’s comment before she suddenly remembers something.

“Speaking of Peyton, what’s up with him and Hangman?” she asks.

“Wait, Hangman? That name sounds familiar,” Carole wonders.

“He’s one of the pilots on the mission,” Sarah answers. Sarah usually knew a lot of things that went on in the Navy. Perks of being a Navy Admiral’s wife. 

“Oh! Didn’t he and Bradley get into a little tiff?” Carole asks.

“When don’t they?” Aurora rolls her eyes. “They literally got in one yesterday.”

“So, him and Peyton,” Penny implores.

“He and Peyton were a thing, but Jake has commitment issues and is worried about his reputation in the Navy. Peyton doesn’t like feeling used. Therefore, tension,” Aurora answers.

“Men are dumb sometimes,” Carole shakes her head.

“Auntie, what about Goose and Bradley?” Aurora questions.

“Exactly, they have their moments, but sometimes I wonder if they share a brain cell,” Carole retorts, to which the women nod and agree with Carole’s statement.

Aurora snickers as Peyton walks in with Bradley to grab a drink. The women see them walk in, and laugh out loud confusing the pair that had just come in.

“Are we missing something?” Peyton asks.

“Inside joke,” Aurora simply answers, before going back to giggling. Bradley smiles at Aurora, laughing. His heart warms knowing that she was feeling a bit better from yesterday’s fiasco.

He goes and stands behind her, leaning forward to grab fruit from the bowl Penny was putting them in. Penny slaps his hand as he draws back his hand from the bowl, successfully stealing three pieces of fruit. 

“Don’t make me ban you from the Hard Deck, Bradshaw,” Penny threatens. Bradley pops a piece in his mouth and tosses another one to Peyton, who was grabbing three beers from the fridge.

“I’m your best customer Mama Pen,” Bradley gives her a puppy dog look, to which Penny shakes her head and goes back to cutting the rest of the fruit.

Bradley holds out the last piece of fruit to Aurora who instead of grabbing it with her hands, grabs it with her mouth, letting Bradly feed her.

Peyton rolls his eyes at the two’s actions, whereas the moms watch and give each other knowing looks. 

“Alright Romeo, we got some beer deliveries to do,” Peyton calls out to Bradley, drawing the two out from their bubble. Bradley rolls his eyes, before giving Aurora a wink, following Peyton out of the kitchen.

Aurora watches them leave, as her face turns pink. Looking around the kitchen when the two leave, she notices the attention on her from everyone in the kitchen and what they’d just seen.

“Shut up,” she mumbles as they all laugh and get back to what they were doing.

—

“Ice, please don’t ask me to send someone else to die. Please don’t, don’t ask me to send him. Send me,” Maverick pleads to Iceman.

Maverick and Iceman decided to sit in Ice’s office to talk about the mission, away from everyone’s ears. 

Iceman types on his computer. ‘It’s time to let go.’

Maverick sighs seeing those words.

It’s not just about letting go of Rooster, but his twins as well. Maverick loves his daughter and his son, and he loves Rooster as well.

But he knew if he let Rooster go on the mission and he didn't come back, he not only lost his godson, but his children as well as his best friend. They wouldn’t forgive him. He couldn’t let go.

“I don’t know how,” he whispers.

“I’m not a teacher, Ice,” tears start running down Maverick’s face. “ I’m a fighter pilot. A naval aviator. It’s not what I am, it’s who I am.”

Ice sits and lets him rant.

“How do I teach that? Even if I could teach it, it’s not what Rooster wants. It’s not what the Navy wants. That’s why they canned me the last time, the only reason why I’m here is you,” Maverick goes on.

“If I send him on this mission, he might never come home. Goose and Carole would never forgive me. Let alone Peyton and Aurora,” Maverick chokes on his words, as the tears start streaming down.

“And if I don’t send him, he’ll never forgive me. Either way, I could lose him forever. I could lose Goose, Carole, the twins.”

Maverick looks back at the computer that had the words still typed out in front of them, as if it was haunting him. It was time to let go.

“I know, I know,” Maverick sniffles, knowing Ice said all he could. Ice nods for him and Maverick to stand up. He coughs a little before speaking to Maverick.

“The Navy needs Maverick. The kids need Maverick. That’s why I fought for you. That’s why you’re still here,” Ice hoarsely tells him. 

Hearing those words, Maverick hugs him. “Thank you, Ice. For everything,” Maverick whispers to him.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Ice chuckles before separating from the hug.

“One last thing,” Ice mutters. Maverick braces himself for what he’s about to say.

“Who’s the better pilot? You or me?” Ice asks. Maverick smirks at him.

“This is a nice moment. Let’s not ruin it,” they chuckle before hearing a knock on the door. Aurora pops her head in, seeing the two men.

“Am I interrupting anything?” Aurora asks them. They shook their heads.

“Good, dinner is ready! Better come soon before Bradley and Peyton eat the whole table,” Aurora snickers.

“We heard that!” Peyton calls out.

“You were meant to!” Aurora turns to call out down the hall. She looks back at Maverick and Ice before nodding back at them and turning to go to where the food was. Maverick and Ice chuckle, following after the girl together.

—

Dinner was in the backyard since there were quite a few of them in the house and they wouldn’t all fit in the kitchen. Everyone grabbed their food, and was scattered around the backyard, all in different groups.

The dads were sitting around a small table, talking with a beer in each of their hands. Ice had his phone out so he could type what he wanted to say. The moms were sitting on the porch swing, watching the kids and gossiping about who knows what.

Bradley and Aurora were sitting on the grass next to each other on a sheet that Sarah had laid out for them.

Amelia and Peyton were originally sitting with them too as they ate their food, but opted to play with Ice and Sarah’s grandchildren, with CJ as well. Ice and Sarah’s children were busy, so Ice and Sarah had offered to watch them for the weekend.

Aurora was pointing out a constellation to Bradley to which he was honestly trying his best to understand. Truthfully, he just liked stargazing with her, not really taking in much information. 

“You’re not listening, are you?” Aurora turns to look at Bradley. Bradley shakes his head.

“I am so listening.”

“Really? Then which constellation did I point out?”

“Uhhh…the really bright one.”

“Bradley!”

“Sorry!” He groans. “I’m just not looking forward to training tomorrow.”

“I think dad said something about a surprise,”Aurora tries to reassure him.

“Ugh, knowing him it’s going to be 500 pushups on top of a mile run.” 

Aurora laughs at Bradley’s complaining.

“You’ll be fine, B. I highly doubt it’s going to be that intense of a surprise.”

“He made us do 200 pushups on the first day.”

“Well, to be fair, I think that was all Fanboy and Payback from what I’ve been told.”

Bradley shakes his head before laying on his back. Aurora, still sitting, turns to watch him lay down.

“Just leave me here to die,” he mutters. Aurora giggles before deciding to poke his stomach.

He spazzes before trying to tickle Aurora in retaliation, but she was too fast for him and stood up right away before he could even start something. 

“I’m going to get water, do you want anything?”

“Nah, I’m fine.” Bradley stays laying down, as Aurora walks away to grab a water bottle.

“Hey little star,” Goose calls out to her, as she passes them. 

“That nickname is never going away is it,” she sighs, as she plops into a seat next to him, with her dad and Uncle Ice sitting across.

“You’ll always be our little star,” Goose answers. She sighs and looks at them.

“Alright, let’s get this over with. I know what you’re going to ask.”

“Sweetie, we just want to make sure you’re doing okay,” Maverick reassures her.

“I am.”

“Hon, Bradley said you had an anxiety attack yesterday,” Goose says.

“Traitor,” Aurora mutters. “Look,” she begins to explain. “It was a long day, work was kicking my ass, tensions were high, and Bradley came on a bit strong when we were talking. He apologized, and we made up. I’m fine.”

“Did you tell him about what happened?” Ice types out on his phone.

“No, he said he understands I will come to him when I’m ready. And I’m not right now. But I will be, just not now,” Aurora sighs. 

“You have to tell them all eventually sweetie,” Maverick speaks up. “If you keep it in any longer, it’s going to crash down.”

“I know, dad. I just, I’m getting used to being back home. I need to be able to think straight before I tell them all the shit that’s happened.”

“We’re here for you whenever you’re ready, little star,” Goose reassures her. Aurora smiles at Goose, giving him a small side hug.

“Thanks, all of you for being there for me. I better head back to Bradley before he wonders where I am.” Aurora gets up, gives her dad and Uncle Ice a side hug, before heading back to Bradley. 

The three men watch her walk away before sighing.

“I’m worried, Ice. Her being back at NCIS worries me, even if she is behind a desk,” Maverick tells them.

Ice types out, “She’s a strong woman now. She’s not a baby anymore.”

“Aurora can hold her own, Mav. She’s a Mitchell, “ Goose affirms, agreeing with Ice’s statement. 

“That’s what worries me, Goose,” Maverick sighs. 

Soon Penny, Carole, and Sarah join them.

They all glance at Aurora and Bradley, who were now both laying next to each other, laughing as Aurora was trying to still point out a constellation to Bradley.

Peyton and Aurora soon sit next to them, while CJ sits next to Aurora. The adults all smile, realizing how much they all had grown up.

“Will they ever get together already?” Carole groans, as she sits in Goose’s lap. 

“You just want to win the bet,” Maverick chuckles.

“Well that too! I mean, how are they not together yet?” Carole wonders.

“Work, and timing honey,” Goose simply answers.

“Besides, even if they get together soon, Penny will be winning the bet,” Sarah answers. Ice looks at the document on his phone where they had put the bet and nods, agreeing with his wife.

“At least I didn’t put by the time they turn 50,” Penny accusingly looks at Maverick.

“What?! I’m optimistic!”

“50 years old, Pete?!”

“50 years old is young in my opinion!” Maverick argues. Penny shakes her head at Maverick.

“What about Peyton and his new boyfriend?” Carole asks.

“Boyfriend?! What do you mean?!” Maverick exclaims, not knowing about Jake and Peyton.

“Oh boy, you did it now Carole,” Goose mutters.

They start discussing, with Maverick trying not to flip out about how his kids were growing up. 

The group of four, Peyton and Amelia, sat back with Bradley and Aurora, turning to see them in a heated discussion.

“What do you think that’s about?” Peyton wonders.

“Do you really want to know?” Amelia answers back in the form of a question.

They turned back to see them, and shook their heads.

“Nope,” the trio replies. And they all laugh out loud.

The giggles and heated discussion from the backyard could be heard echoing through the night.

- - -

If you would like to be on the taglist or removed, please let me know! 

Taglist:  

@purplevortexx

@sqrlgrl22

@luckyladycreator2 

@my-obsession-spn

@oxxolovemelikeyoudooxxo

@shanimallina87

@hisredheadedgoddess28

@fandom-princess-forevermore

@a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby

—

Disclaimer: This story is fictitious. All works are written by me and only posted here. Please do not copy, repost, or plagiarize on any other platform without my permission!

#precious nova #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x oc

[callsigndragon]

Could I please be added to your tag list? Your stories = 🔥🔥🔥

Of course, love!

Thank you so much 🥺

#dragon's tag list

[callsigndragon]

@withahappyrefrain thank you so much! 🥺🩷

From the prompts list:

#7 with my boy Bob if you would be so kind my dear 💜🥹

𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒 𝕜𝕚𝕤𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 | Bob Floyd

Previously callsignmeiga

Prompt: kiss on the cheek in passing + Bob Floyd

Pairing: Bob Floy x female reader (implied that she works at Top Gun, but job is not specified)

Warnings: smug, flirty,(bit of) cheeky Bob

A/N: Beaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan thanks a lot for requesting 🥺💜I missed writing for this big goofball. Hope you like it!

My tag list is completely lost- so if anyone wants to be added, let me know!

It wasn’t a secret that Bob Floyd loved to kiss his partner. Truth be told, if it were for him, his lips would be glued all day to any available part of his girl’s body.

But, with both of them working on the same base, it was a bit complicated. Following the rules and all that, you know. PDA doesn’t bother him at all; however, he is not allowed to be as outwardly loving as Lieutenant Floyd desires.

So he has to keep it low.

But he’s gonna get his kisses anyway.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Floyd," you greet each other as you cross paths in the corridor. He is walking toward you with a big smile on his face. "You look quite happy."

"Wouldn’t you be happy to see such a cutie as yourself?" He whispers once he has come close to you, not even stopping to have a proper conversation. Bob simply presses his lips to your cheek and walks away, beaming.

You’re left in the corridor, feeling your whole face burn and checking your surroundings to see if any unwanted eyes might have seen the exchange.

During the whole day, Bob had been finding excuses to cross paths with you and kiss your cheek in passing, just to see you all flustered. Something about the way you gaze at him after each kiss, big eyes and a reprimand on the tip of your tongue, brightens his day.

However, once the day is over and both of you head to the parking lot, he hears your loud footsteps closing in on him.

With a sneer on his face, he slowly turns around and pushes his glasses up his nose while sitting on the hood of his car. "Hey, honey."

"Shut the fuck up," you mutter between harsh teeth, seizing him by the lapels of his shirt and yanking him down.

Once you feel satisfied and Bob has become a giggly mess, you let him go, straightening the lapels with your hands and walking away.

"You can’t leave me like this, angel," he whines, almost ready to trail you down and beg for more kisses.

"I can and I will!"

@purplevortexx

@novastories

#comment reblog