The Sky and the Stars - Tom and Sarah Kazansky

-9-

The last week and a half of training was intense, and Sarah barely saw any of the team members. Still, the open wound left by Goose's death remained.

 It wasn't until graduation day that everyone gathered to celebrate the successes of the team, as well as the top Top Gun performers: Ice and Slider. Their hard work had paid off and they finished top of the class, which meant they received the trophy. 

She was looking forward to the celebration - a chance to see Tom again. And she'd just gotten off the phone with her supervisor back in Washington, so she had some news to deliver. 

The words came back to her as she approached the busy and bustling celebration: Ice and Fire.

She liked the sound of that.

She would be lying if she said she didn't. 

All the graduates were dressed in their dress white uniforms, separating them from the civilians, family and friends having gathered as well to congratulate them. 

Tom was waring the biggest smile, proudly displaying the trophy baring he and Slider's names, and Slider had his arm around him. 

Somehow, that smile grew when he saw her. "Sarah!" He handed over the trophy to Slider and hurried over to her. 

"I came to say Mazel Tov. For your graduation as well as the trophy. You worked hard and it paid off. Congratulations"

"Thank you, I'm so glad you're here. Do you want some drinks? Snacks?"

He was so excited it was terribly endearing.  "Sure. Thanks."

He got her a plate which she began adding snacks too, also grabbing a drink from one of the trays. Well, she'd best get the difficult news over and done with, there was no use delaying it. "I also wanted to say good bye - my supervisor called and I'll be heading back to D.C. in a couple of days."

"You're leaving? So soon?" he cried. His signature smile was suddenly gone, replaced by a shocked sadness. 

"Yeah I was a bit shocked myself, but I guess your training's done now, so it makes sense. Our work here is done."

"Yeah..." He seemed to be considering a lot of things to say.  "When do you leave? Can I see you before you go? We don't have to say good bye today, do we?"

His words warmed her and she smiled.  "I'm sure we can arrange that."

"Good. I'm, I'm not ready to say good bye to you yet."

His words made her realize she wasn't ready either.

"Sorry to interrupt-" A figure appeared beside them - Maverick.

"Pete! You're here!" she cried.

He nodded.  "I thought about what you said, and I'm not a quitter."

After she'd seen him at his most vulnerable following his best friend's death, she started to think of him more as 'Pete' and not just 'Maverick', like with Tom vs. Iceman - however, she'd always thought of him more as Tom. Beneath their call signs, they were still human after all. 

Pete turned to Tom who was maybe looking slightly annoyed at having he and Sarah's conversation   interrupted. Pete extended his hand.  "Congratulations."

Tom took his hand and shook it.  "Thank you."

"Gentlemen!" Viper stepped forward and cut in then. "I hate to break up the party before it really gets started, but there is work to be done. Some of you have to depart immediately: we have a crisis situation."

Jester began reading off chosen pilots from a list. "Ice, Slider. Hollywood, Wolfman. Maverick."

"Wait - now?" Sarah cried as the senior officers began handing out assignment sheets for the pilots' eyes only. It was pretty obvious that it was 'now'. 

"Orders come when they come, Ms. Coleman."

She nodded.  "Yes, Sir." That didn't stop the wave of disappointment from hitting her. 

Tom turned to her.  "I gotta go."

"Yeah, sounds like it."

"Thank you again for coming by, I really appreciate it." In perhaps a bold move, he reached out and squeezed her arm for emphasis. 

In perhaps an even bolder move, she placed her hand on top of his on her arm and squeezed it back. "Of course. Good luck out there."

"Thanks." With one last lingering smile, he turned away to go. 

"Tom?" He turned back to face her. "Whatever it is, be careful out there, all of you, please."

-------------------------------------

Sarah returned to base, awaiting any sort of word or update on the mission. She hadn't felt much like celebrating after the deployment. And secretly - or maybe not so secretly - she had been hoping for the opportunity to spend more time with Tom at the celebration, especially with her leaving so soon and all. Just as her supervisor had said, the training was done now, and she could finish her reports on her collected data back in Washington. There was no need for her to stay any more or any longer, no reason for her to. But what if, just what if, she had found a reason to? A reason to stay?

Oh boy, it sounded so dramatic. So much so that she buried her face in her hands - but she was smiling. Of course she was. 

Ice and Fire...

Ice, Iceman, Tom...

But this wasn't just a training exercise - those which had proven dangerous enough. No, no this was the real thing, a real, actual mission, with real stakes. No doubt high stakes. 

She thought back to the graduation celebration and all those loved ones who had come out to support the pilots - how did they do it? she wondered. How did they survive the worry? Were they just putting on brave faces? Most likely. 

"I would never date anyone from work, period..." Her own words came back to her, always there in the back of her mind, never too far away, always lingering. And when she'd said them previously, she had just been thinking in terms of a bad breakup. But then Goose had gone up in that training exercise and died, and that was training, not even a real mission. And his death, that of a new friend, had affected her so deeply. A few times since then she had found herself crying when thinking of Goose, Carole and Bradley, Pete. It was just so awful. 

Now Tom and Pete, along with Slider, Merlin, Hollywood and Wolfman, were all up there and it was the real thing. Any or all of them could die.

They had been celebrating their achievements over the past several weeks, and then suddenly they were being sent off on a classified, no less  dangerous mission. 

The dangerous nature of this work was clearly evident.  Look at Carole, she was dealing with it first hand. 

Please God, come back, she sent out a plea and a prayer into the universe.  All of you. 

Ice and Fire - it sounded good, but good was never easy.

What was she going to do?

The only thing she could do: wait until the end of the mission - whatever  that brought.

(Duh duh duhhhh! Had to leave it on a cliffhanger for you all! ;) 

Thanks so much for the excellent response to this story! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))