automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

fifty-two.

SKYE WAS THE WORLD'S GREATEST PROCRASTINATOR. SHE WOULD DENY THAT FACT TO ANYONE WHO DARED MENTION IT, BUT IT WAS TRUE. when she'd been in school, skye had always hated doing her assignments. nothing bored or agitated her more than a petty piece of classwork. and it seemed that the passage of time that procrastinators had didn't change with time. at least, not in her case.

the day of the mission had seemed so far away weeks ago. now, there skye was, and it was suddenly the next day that she would find out if she would be going onto enemy lines to drop a bomb on a uranium plant. 

how much could change in such little time, she wondered. that she'd come back to fightertown with katia a handful of weeks before, and had successfully managed to fall in love, get rejected, and attend a close friend's funeral. she supposed it would make for some fun stories years from then, but all she could think about was how frustrating it all was.

first of all, she had graduated top of her class at top gun. and yet there she was, getting sidetracked from an important mission by the mere concept of a man. but, of course (as her own mind wouldn't let her forget), he wasn't any man. he was rooster.

rooster, who she thought she'd been in love with for years. who she missed more than she could ever let herself admit, and who she might not be able to see again after the sun went down the next day. 

when the mission was done, skye knew that there was absolutely nothing keeping her and rooster together anymore. they'd gone two years without talking, and nothing was stopping him from running away from her as quickly as he could once he didn't have to be around her anymore. maybe he'd even leave the golden warriors so he could be as far away as possible.

but skye was just being dramatic, and no matter how much she was overthinking it, she knew deep down that rooster wouldn't be gone forever. maybe that was just wishful thinking, but she knew him to be better than that. after all, they were both adults. they could have a mature conversation. 

oh, right, it was rooster she was talking about. rooster, who could barely go a week without starting some argument or other. and rooster, who most certainly did not want to have a mature conversation about almost anything, would definitely not want to discuss how stupid skye had been about admitting her feelings. 

and so, skye reasoned with herself that the best possible outcome was to just hope that rooster would forget about the feelings that she'd confessed to him. that would make things better, right? if he just forgot?

it didn't really matter in the present moment, though, because skye was preparing to go to the hard deck for the final hurrah of the group, and whatever she said or did wouldn't affect anything. the mission was still happening the next morning regardless of what words she and rooster exchanged. 

but all skye wanted to do was talk to him and tell him how much she hoped he was okay. how she wanted him to fly the mission, that he deserved it, but that she would've felt better knowing he'd be completely safe. that there wasn't a risk of him getting hurt. that twenty four hours from then, he (or she) could be gone. 

it was morbid, she knew. but, hey, she'd just been at a funeral, so skye thought it was justifiable. 

no one had expected rooster to show up anyway, and skye didn't know if she was counting on that or not. when the plans were arranged, no one moved to make sure he was listening or agreeing. rooster hadn't really been social for the past week or two. 

katia had gotten ready first, of course, and was knocking on skye's door asking her if she was ready to leave soon. "yeah, yeah." the brunette replied, trying not to back out of the plans. 

it was a completely normal invitation to go to the hard deck. the entire squadron was invited (including maverick, who no one really expected to show up), and it was going to be a maximum of one drink ordeal. obviously no one could have a hangover the next morning.