𝐖𝐈𝐃𝐎𝐖'𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐄. | top gun

eight - that dreadful day.

the day had finally come whenever maverick was supposed to pick his team for the upcoming mission. the team would consist of two foxtrot teams, and two wingmen. while everyone was excited for their hard work to pay off, everyone dreaded the upcoming mission. they knew of the danger that was possible, and nobody was ready to face any of it.

it was the night before the final meeting with maverick, and leah found herself tossing and turning. sweat pouring down her face as she kicked her blanket off. she found herself having a nightmare, and a horrifying one at that. she saw everyone going on the mission, but no one surviving. no one survived and it was all her fault.

leah eventually shot up with a scream.

unfortunately, her dad hadn't been there that night, so it was just leah in the house. tears started to stream down her face as she did her face to collect her breathing. when she finally calmed down, she grabbed the phone by her bed and dialed a particular number.

"hello?"

the noise of bradshaw's sleepy voice came through the line, which caused leah to relax slightly.

"hi, sorry to disturb you this late."

"it's fine, not like i was sleeping long anyway.. what's wrong?" rooster asks through the phone, taking note of the slight hitch in leah's breath and quiver in her voice.

"nightmare.." leah responds, trying her best not to cry again.

"hey hey hey, breathe beautiful, i'll be over in two minutes." rooster consoles, leah thinking that he was exaggerating slightly whenever she collected herself and hung up the phone. but surprisingly, he was far from exaggerating. as almost immediately after the amount of time went by, leah heard a knock from downstairs.

whenever she answered the door, she was treated to quite the sight opened it to rooster in pug pajama pants and a tank top. it pushes her worries and fears for the upcoming day away, as gives her a reassuring kiss on the forehead.

"i brought chicken, you wanna eat the night away and talk about it?" rooster suggests, finally making leah smile a little bit. if there was one way into leah metcalf's heart, it was almost certainly through food. and being a special human being like bradley bradshaw was a definite plus.

the two now sat on the living room couch. internally hoping and praying that leah's dad didn't decide to come home, as they vented their emotions to one another, over a bucket of chicken.

"i'm scared out of my mind, i don't wanna lose you if you get picked." leah vents, hugging a pillow for comfort.

"i think everyone feels scared over this. but leah, the last thing you're gonna do is lose me, i can promise you that." rooster responds, gentleness in his tone as he takes a sip of water, washing down the chicken taste that was in his throat.

"maybe so, but after iceman, i guess i'm just so used to the concept of loss, i'm welcoming it at every turn. especially with something like this mission." leah feels her voice quiver up again with almost every word, tears starting to well in her eyes. rooster takes notice of it, wrapping an arm around her and gently rubbing her shoulder.

"leah, pain and suffering is every day, but we can't let such a thing eat us alive. or else we won't know how to really live." the gentle, but deep comment from rooster causes leah to stop for a second, really taking in the response. technically, all leah knew sometimes was the concept of loss. she had a callsign for how deadly she was in combat. and sometimes saw certain people around her, like her mom and iceman, simply disappear when she least expected it. for a while, all she had was her father and maverick. and the comment from rooster really made her realize the genuine love she had found; not just for rooster, but for coming back to the program as a whole.

"since when did you become so philosophical?" leah suddenly jokes, the two exchanging a small laugh, despite the comment meaning the world.

"something my mom taught me growing up. now, this bucket of chicken isn't gonna finish itself, what movie are we watching this go around?" rooster asks, lightening up the mood as leah's smile doesn't fade.

"i'm not picky, as long as it's something spooky and keeps our minds off tomorrow." with that, the two ended up watching the bride of frankenstein. leah ended up falling asleep first whilst they were on the couch, her head resting comfortably on rooster's chest. rooster didn't have any complaints over it, and ended up falling asleep right where he sat. leah's gentle breath giving him enough peace to get his mind off the dread he shared about the upcoming day.

the next morning, leah and rooster ended up thirty minutes late.

both of them ended up not falling asleep till five o'clock in the morning, leaving them rushing in as maverick was ready to give the lecture and reveal no one wanted to hear. both of them sat down in their seats, earning looks from phoenix and coyote and a laugh from hangman. the laugh from hangman, however, causes leah to flip him the bird. finally, after the couple gets settled in, everyone focuses in on maverick. a sense of seriousness and fear comes over the room, as maverick finally starts the reveal.

"this decision was an extremely hard one to make. and was solely based off of who i feel would be able to get this mission done efficiently." maverick starts, everyone collectively tensing up as maverick himself took a breath. noone said anything, no wisecracking jokes from hangman, maverick paused longer to try and collect himself properly. everyone knew what they were about to get in to, now, it was just a matter of who would be the ones that got selected for the biggest risk; actually going on the mission.

"choose your two foxtrot teams." the admiral starts, nobody moving a muscle.

"payback and fanboy, phoenix and bob." maverick starts, phoenix and bob simply looked at each other in response. while neither payback nor fanboy bothered to move, and were focused on the rest of what maverick had to say.

"and your two wingmen." at this point, a small smirk springs across hangman's cheeks. while rooster grabs leah's hand in order to ease her nerves.

"rooster and black widow."

leah felt like her heart was going to explode.

she was more than trained for combat. leah had the cleanest record of any dogfighting pilot, which was what she knew best. she knew she could do it and had the right people around her. but something in her, screamed, that this was an extremely bad idea. she tried to keep rooster's advice in mind, but now found it extremely hard.

"the rest of you will standby as backup for the mission, we launch in two days." with that, leah couldn't take it anymore, as she rushed out of the room.