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"I MISS YOU," KRISTEN SAT BESIDE HER FATHER'S GRAVE, she'd made Maverick stop there before the two headed to the mission.
"I got team leader, daddy," Kristen added, "I'm meeting the Admirals in an hour. Maverick's waiting in the car, you'd be proud he picked me up... from the Hard Deck where... now brace yourself Dad... I was sleeping on the bar."
It's not like she was expecting a response, but to not hear a single word back from her father made her stomach drop. She was trying her hardest to not explode, not let those tears out or that scream she'd been holding in for the longest time.
"I know you're gone," Kristen stuttered as her eyes danced over the grave stone; loving husband, father and grandfather, "I just don't know why you had to be."
Between her trembling lips, she kept telling herself she was insane for talking to a piece of stone. She smacked her lips together, "I was so sure I was the one for this mission, Dad. I'm struggling to believe that I've even done it with Maverick."
"I'm doing this for you though. You would've flown this mission. It wouldn't have even been a question wether you would've done this in your day," She paused at the last phrase, finally a short giggle escaping her, "You're still the best of your time. I've gotta be the best of mine, like you always told me to."
——
SHE'D LOVE TO THINK HER NERVES HAD SUBSIDED, but Kristen was feeling like shit. She wished she could say she got a good night's sleep too, but she was tossing an turning, wanting to wake up as soon as possible to go see her dad.
Maverick stayed pretty silent in the car, realising she wasn't in the mood for questioning. Though he wasn't feeling it before, he'd matched her nerves at the sight of her stone cold attitude. Any little mention of the mission she'd plastered on a brave face, not a single joke or smile had come from the girl.
He thought about pulling the plug at one point, turning that car around and stopping either of them from meeting with the Admirals and heading to the mission. He kept telling himself that she was ready, but her face wasn't telling him the same thing.
It wasn't about her talent or her skills, it was about her. How she felt. What she would do under pressure; a pressure that she'd faced before sure, but not with her current hurt of loss and mess of a life.
Iceman said she was good to go. He said he'd wanted her to do it, changing his initial mind. But Sarah said no. Sarah said she wouldn't be able to handle all of it.
If Maverick knew one thing about Kristen though, it was that there was no way in getting between her and her father's bond; the second Iceman had implanted in her brain that he thought she should go through with the mission if chosen, Maverick knew there was no going back.
