Chapter Text
“Are you fucking kidding me,” Goose screamed into the air. He knew Mav couldn’t hear him. He knew Ice couldn’t hear him right now. He knew Bradley couldn’t hear him. But he wanted to wack all of them over the head. If he fucking had tangibility he would. They were idiots. All idiots.
Bradley was barely reaching 20. He had a scholarship for Baseball at UVA. And here he was screaming at his adoptive dads for ruining his chance in life to be a naval aviator like all three of his fathers. Goose knew his son had every right to be pissed, but to lash out this harshly at the two surviving people who raised him. He wanted to rise out of his grave and shake his son. That be the first of multiple times he wanted to in the following years.
“Lose my number!” Bradley snapped over the phone, “Don’t call me. You don’t have the right anymore!”
“Bradl-“ Mav started instead to get cut off.
“No! You tore my dream apart after supporting it for 18 years. You don’t get the room to argue your case!” Bradley screamed.
There were certain rules to being what Goose was. Goose could watch over them. See everything to do with those he was assigned to, jump coast to coast in an instant. He could sometimes fritz out technology. Had to be pissed off enough to do that. But he could not directly communicate with people unless they asked him to. But Mav couldn’t see him, he didn’t have the gift in order to be able to.
“Bradley we were trying to look out for you,” Ice’s voice came through the phone. Ice who was always the cool and collected one. The one that could always calm down Bradley when Mav and him went head to head before. “You’ll understand one day.”
Goose thought he knew his son. After 15 years of watching him daily, helping where he could, he thought he knew his son. He didn’t expect Bradley to hang up on Ice and Mav in anger out of nowhere. He didn’t expect Bradley to automatically block both Mav and Ice’s numbers along with the landline to their house. He didn’t expect Bradley to then delete said numbers.
Goose didn’t know how they ended up here. The two, well one since he wasn’t alive and probably shouldn’t count, standing in a barebones dorm room at UVA. His son’s face was red with anger, tears streaming down as he threw his phone at the bed. God, how did they end up here?
The first thing Goose remembered after his death was seeing Mav. His head was pounding and his vision fuzzy for the first bit there. He could have sworn he could still feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins in those first few moments. But he was standing. Why was he standing? He shouldn’t be standing.
That’s when the field of red sunk in. The field of red he was standing on top of and Mav was crying in. The field of red Mav that was floating in and holding his body. The field of red in the sea that seemed to be coming from his body. That was his body. This was his blood. Why the fuck was he seeing his own body? Why was he seeing his own blood?
Oh god, he was dead, wasn’t he?
Goose didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all. He was dead. He was fucking dead.
He’d long since accepted that he could die flying. He’d accepted that the first time he stepped into a cockpit. He’d known it to be a possibility since he first decided he wanted to be an RIO. It wasn’t a far reach.
No. No the thing that pissed him off was the fact they were trying to blame Maverick for it. Maverick who had done everything he could for years to help and protect Goose. Maverick who was his son’s godfather. Maverick who had held his body in the ocean so Carole had a body to bury. So Carole had his dog tags.
The only thing he was grateful for was the fact that she wasn’t blaming Mav. It wasn’t like Carole was one to, but with him being dead he didn’t want to be proven wrong when Carole was all Pete had left. If Carole blamed Pete she would pull Bradley out of his life too and that would crush Mav even more.
They were trying to punish Maverick for something that wasn’t his fault though. They had him in front of the committee. And all Goose could do was stand in the room, trying to scream, trying to get someone to hear him but none of them could. He was fucking dead and he couldn’t do shit past watch and try to be seen.
That was the first time he fritzed out the lights. In his anger he caused a singular light to start flickering in time with what should have been his breath. That was another thing he was confused about. He still breathed like it was normal but he’d held his breath before and never felt the need to gasp for air after a minute. He’d sat up at night holding his breath for 3 hours before he gave up. He also didn’t need to sleep anymore but he could. Or maybe it wasn’t sleeping and just popping out of existence until he wanted to reappear.
But the light right above one of the admirals was flickering after Goose had stood in front of him yelling, swearing on a god that he’d make his life miserable even if he spent the rest of eternity trying to figure out how. He didn’t make the connection it was him doing it at the time though.
The thing was Goose didn’t feel the need to linger around just Maverick. There seemed to be three things, strings, pulling him in different directions. One feeling led to Maverick, which he could get behind, which he could support. One string led to Bradley, little Bradley not even a bit older than 4 and still confused why Dad wasn’t coming home. The last one was the one Goose didn’t understand. Because it led him to Iceman.
He’d followed that third pull to the locker room one day when Maverick was wallowing in bed and refusing to fly, refusing to finish Top Gun and get that plaque. Refusing to get up and fight for life. Goose didn’t want to be reminded that Maverick was choosing to wallow away while he was already dead and didn’t have a choice.
But it felt like someone was calling to him from that third string, so he followed it.
When he’d discovered it to be Iceman he cursed. Goose didn’t blame Iceman for his death. It was an accident. But clearly the man famous for no mistakes and being ice cold was blaming himself. He was alone in the locker room and was crying, mumbling under his breath.
“I’m sorry Goose. I’m sorry,” he mumbled and Goose stepped closer to him to hear the great Iceman fall apart, “I… I was selfish and didn’t think and it’s my fault you can’t be here for your son and Maverick is going to quit. I wish I could talk to you and tell you and you could yell at me what to do, what to tell Maverick. God, I wish I could talk to you and you weren’t in the ground because of me.”
That was the most grounded Goose had felt since his death, Ice talking to him. He couldn’t explain it, but he… he felt solid.
When Goose went to take another step closer Iceman’s head whipped up and his back straightened like he’d heard the step. Goose had heard his own footstep even. Though his brain didn’t register that wasn’t normal anymore. But before Goose could yell at Ice or he could turn his head around the sound of the rest of the class chattering and moving to enter the locker room. And any extra pull that Goose had been feeling towards Iceman dropped back to the normal feeling it had been before.
It take Goose a little bit more than a year to understand what had just happened.
Maverick was getting better. He was back on the carrier. That was a good first step Goose thought. It was actually a great first step considering Maverick had been considering quitting and giving up on all of it a week ago. He was actually starting to get back into the cockpit, even if it was with Merlin.
Goose was proud of him for that. Still a bit internally annoyed at how the brass had handled Mav and this entire situation but at minimum, he was back in the air. Mav belonged in the air. Mav not in the air was a signed death for himself. God, the boys had been right to give him the nickname Mother Goose with how much he was refusing to leave Mav’s side even in death.
Mav was carrying his dog tags though. He wasn’t letting go of Goose, which he guessed made sense with his death being so recent but every time Maverick squeezed his dog tags for support Goose felt that tug in his chest.
There’s a list of important things Goose had determined since his death. 1) He wasn’t a ghost. He didn’t know how he knew that but using the term didn’t feel right. 2) He was tied to three people: Mav, Bradley, and Iceman. 3) He could blink back and forth between any of these 3 with just a thought. 4) when one of these 3 people was thinking about him or talking about or toward him he felt a tug on the connection. 5) well he didn’t have a 5 just yet. He was saving that space for whenever he figured out why he was tied to fucking Iceman.
Ok, maybe he’d never figure out why he was tied to Iceman. He thought he’d figured out when Mav and Iceman were hugging it out on the deck of the carrier saying they could call each other wingmen. Maybe he was destined to be tied to people Mav cared about? But then why wasn’t he tied to Carole? No that couldn’t be it.
Maybe it was people that needed him? That was the closest reasoning he could come up with. Carole was holding herself together and while she probably did need him she didn’t give off the energy that said she needed divine intervention help from him. Then again she’d always joked she felt like her grandmother was her guardian angel.
Wait, Fuck. Divine intervention. Carole already had a guardian angel in her grandmother.
Goose was a fucking guardian angel to Maverick, Bradley, and Iceman. Fucking Iceman.
Goose’s revised rules to what he’d learned since his death were double its original length 6 months after his death.
1) He was a guardian angel. That was a far better term than ghost. It fit him better.
2) He was assigned to three people: Mav, Bradley, and Iceman. Iceman had grown on him in the time since his death and dubbing of being Mav’s wingman.
3) He could blink back and forth between the 3 with just a thought. It didn’t have a distance limit he discovered when Bradley was in Corpus Christi helping his mom pack and Mav and Iceman were in the Indian Ocean.
4) When one of them was thinking about him, Goose felt a tug on the connection. The intensity of the tug lined up with the strength of the thought. Mav had taken up saying “Talk to me Goose” when flying and that always brought him right to his side. It was the closest Goose felt to being able to let Mav know he was there. He’d put his hand on Maverick’s shoulder and for a few brief seconds, Goose could feel like he was flying again.
5) Iceman was lonier than he originally thought and could really use Mav around more. Maybe that's why Goose had been assigned to him, to force him towards actually being happy for once. 5 was still a tentative filler on the list and was bound to change since Goose hadn’t figured out why Iceman yet.
6) Electricity didn’t like Goose when he was pissed off. He tended to burst lightbulbs.
7) He couldn’t touch things. He had zero tangibility. But if he passed through like curtains or something they would wave a little like a breeze had brushed up against them. Which suggested that maybe he could reach tangibility but he didn’t know how.
8) He didn’t have to shave or cut his hair. He looked nearly exactly the way he did when he died. The only difference was he wasn’t in his flight suit but in jeans and his favorite Hawaiian shirt. He was a little grateful for that. Didn’t want to spend who knows how many years in the flight suit he died in.
9) Sometimes. Very rarely. He could see other guardian angels. When Carole had been crying one night while packing away his polaroids he’d caught a glimpse of her grandmother, looking the exact same as when she’d died of a heart attack nearly 10 years ago. He was grateful that Carole had a guardian angel, one who probably had less work to do than he did with 3 assignments.
10) Bradley could maybe see him, or maybe he was imagining it. Because after Carole had tucked him into bed, kissing his forehead and leaving the room with just the night light, Bradley would ask, “Dad would you tell me a story?” And Goose feeling the pull would sit on the floor and tell him stories about him or Uncle Mav, and sometimes even the idiot Iceman. Bradley never asked when Mav was in town though.
11) Of his three assignments, as he liked to call them, Ice called on him the least. Maybe because he didn’t realize he had Goose still lingering around looking out for him too.
“Bradley this is Iceman, but I call him Ice sometimes,” Mav started as he squatted down to his godson’s level. He gestured up at Ice with a pointed thumb, “He’s my friend. Well, my Wingman. He’s going to be around more often and may come with me to pick you up from school sometimes.”
Goose snorted to himself. Neither he nor Mav he assumed had ever taught Bradley what a Wingman was. Ice had requested a transfer to Miramar to be based close to Mav from what Goose had deduced. And Mav, who had lasted 4 months so far teaching at Top Gun, was more than happy to have Ice back in his orbit of people.
Carole and Bradley had just moved out to North Island, Maverick buying a house for all three of them to share. It was farther from Miramar than North Island. But North Island was a better environment for Bradley Mav thought though, and Goose had stood behind Mav proud when he signed the paperwork. He’d been less happy when Mav updated his will to make Bradley the sole inheritor of everything. He wasn’t upset about the Bradley thing, more so Maverick was thinking he was going to die soon enough that a will had to be updated more and more frequently it seemed.
Carole and Bradley needed the support system Mav could offer. With Ice in the mix too there would once again be three adults looking after Bradley physically. Sure Goose would be with his son spiritually but it felt good to see three adults in rotation to pick up Bradley from school once again.
It also felt better to Goose to have all 3 of those he was supposed to be protecting in the house at one time. He couldn’t explain why though, why he got the feeling of calm when Bradley, Ice, and Mav were all under the same roof. He’d try to figure that out later.
Now if only he could do something about the fact that Maverick and Iceman had too much sexual tension between them and desperately needed to just fuck and admit they loved each other. God, his pilot was an idiot when it came to dating.
So Goose had known Maverick for a year when he first learned that Maverick had an interest in both boys and girls. Maverick had been explaining where he’d disappeared to the previous night leaving Goose alone at the bar and had accidentally slipped and used the pronouns he/him instead of she/her. And the second Mav had realized it he froze thinking he’d dropped something that would ruin his friendship with Goose.
Goose had just rolled his eyes and poked fun at the fact that man was just enamored by anything that moved and could challenge him. And Mav relaxed and continued with his story.
Goose swore then when it came to anyone he loved, Maverick was a little bit of an idiot. He’d later adjust this statement to be Mav was a giant idiot when he was in love overall. And he’d quickly recognized the beginnings of it that night in the O-club when Mav had challenged Ice. Sure Mav did that act for Charlie, but she seemed like a temporary challenge, not a long one. And Mav needed someone who could challenge him for a long time if he was ever going to stay in a committed relationship.
To Goose, Iceman looked like he was that challenge. God, he wished he could cash in on that bet with Slider that the two were bound to fuck. Because apparently, Mav wasn’t the biggest of idiots and actually made a move in less than a year.
It’s taken 9 months since Goose’s death before Mav manned up and did it. He’d actually cornered Ice in the house when Bradley was asleep and Carole out with some of the local Navy Moms. Mav just straight up told Ice he was the most infuriating, interesting, gut-wrenching pilot he’d ever met and for fucks sake he loved him because of it.
Goose wasn’t sure if those were the greatest words to confess that you were in love with someone. But apparently, it worked because before he knew it the two were making out and Ice had Mav pinned against the wall.
“Thank the fucking lord,” Goose marveled before turning around to walk through the wall to Bradley’s room. He was not going to be around to watch those two finally relieve all that sexual tension.
It was later when he came back into the living room to find them cuddling on the couch, thankfully still both fully dressed. Goose didn’t even want to know if they’d taken any of it off and pulled it back on. But they were on the couch, Iceman in the corner, carding his hands through Maverick's hair as he rested his head on Ice’s chest.
“I think Goose would have liked you. Liked us like this,” Maverick mumbled out of nowhere, opening his eyelids to peak up at Ice as he adjusted his head a bit. “He would have said you were the perfect challenge for me.”
And there was the tug in Goose’s chest, pulling him towards Mav. God he wished he could just hug his best friend.
“You really think Goose would have liked us together?” Ice questioned in doubt. It wasn’t unfair. Goose came off as indifferent to Ice for most of his time with him. But the continued talking about him made him feel more solid. Like he could actually reach out and touch them.
“Mmhh” Mav hummed his confirmation, his index finger tracing loose lines on Ice’s chest, “He was always saying I needed someone who challenged me. Someone who understood I needed to be in the air and when I wasn’t someone who forced me to slow down. I never made sense of what he meant about that.”
“And you have now?”
Maverick lifted his head, moving to sit up, and looked at Iceman, “You aren’t going to keep me from flying. You understand the sky just as much as I do. But you, you don’t make me feel in a rush to get back into the air. Life can be just as beautiful on the ground. I can spend time with Bradley, and Carole, and you. I want to spend time with you on the ground just enjoying life. Goose was right.”
“Goose was a wise guy,” Ice smiled softly at Mav. Somehow whenever it was just the two of them Ice didn’t have such a cold look Goose thought. But his string to Ice was pulling tighter then Goose had ever felt.
“Damn right I was,” Goose snorted, crossing his arms over his chest as he puffed it in pride at being right.
Ice visually flinched. Ice FLINCHED at Goose’s words. His eyes darted over towards Goose and actually settled on him. They settled on Goose and widened for a second.
“You can see me?” Goose gasped, his arms dropping and his own eyes widening in shock, “You. Can see me?” He was staring Ice right in the eyes. He felt tangible for a second there as they looked at one another.
“Ice? You ok?” Mav interrupted, and Ice’s head shifted back to Maverick. Goose walked towards the couch and stood behind the back of the couch, his face next to Ice’s.
“Ya. Ya sorry,” Ice apologized shaking his head a bit like he was trying to get the image of goose out of it, “Thought I heard Bradley for a second.” His gaze shifted back to where Goose had been standing before. He didn’t notice Goose now that Goose was standing next to him and the tugging on the string was gone.
“You want to go check on him?”
Ice nodded and stood up, moving towards Bradley’s room down the hall.
“Ice did you just see me?” Goose was asking trailing behind him. But the living man didn’t turn and acknowledge his voice. He just peaked into Bradley’s room, closed the door, and went back to Maverick on the couch, walking right through Goose as he did.
Goose was left standing, his mind running through the scene that had just happened. What the fuck had just happened? How the fuck had Ice seen him?
Goose tended to linger around Iceman for the next few days. But nothing like what happened that evening occurred again. Ice was never fully alone it seemed. He was running around from NAS North Island to Miramar to Maverick’s to Bradley’s activities. Somehow also finding the time to buy a house a few streets down from Mav. A nice big one that Goose had zero clue how he afforded and still had as much money as he did in his account after.
Then it was running to move in, buying furniture, moving boxes, and buying the basics while grocery shopping. Ice didn’t take a moment to rest other than when he slept. He spent a lot of time on the phone with his sister to try to convince her to give him a pocket watch too which was weird. After a bit, Goose got so bored of the running around the routine that he started popping in to check on Bradley and Maverick more.
It took 4 months before he felt another pull from Ice. He hadn’t felt one since that night. So he popped over to Ice. He landed in the new office that Ice had in his house. The bookshelves were a little barren but seemed to slowly be filling up. There was a rug and a desk and a chair for the desk. There was little else in the room that Goose could see.
“Goose,” Ice was mumbling playing with a pocket watch in his hands as he did, “I don’t know if you can hear me but I need to talk to you. I’m sorry it took me a bit to reach back out.”
Goose leaned against one of the empty bookshelves and scoffed, “Wow 3 months of silence, and now you finally talk to me again. And here I thought you didn’t care about anyone Iceman.”
And there it was again. Ice visually flinched. Ice FLINCHED at Goose’s words and shifted his gaze towards him and away from the watch. They held eye contact and Goose felt more tangible than he had since his death, the string between them once again tight like it had been that night. Goose stood up, stopped his leaning, and straightened up, and Ice’s eyes followed him as he walked over towards the desk that Ice was leaning against.
Kazansky… Can you see me?” Goose asked, his voice low. He didn’t want to get burned again. He didn’t want to have hope over this again.
But Ice swallowed, and nodded.
“Holy fuck. You can see me?” Goose stuttered. And the hope flared up with no care for the chance this was a fake out.
Ice nodded again, his eyes flicking down to the pocket watch in his hand and then back up to Goose. “Ya Goose, I can.”
“How? How is this possible?”
Ice sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “What have you figured out?”
Goose looked affronted at that answer, “That’s your response?” he hissed at the pilot, “I spend a year following you around and you’re asking what I’ve figured out? What right do you have to that?”
“So you’ve been around the entire last year?”
“That’s what you got out of my response!?”
Ice stood quickly. He wasn’t taller than Goose, but at this moment Goose would have thought so by the way he held himself.
“Goose. How many people are you attached to?”
Goose looked at Ice. The nervousness that the man had held before had slipped away to seriousness, and Goose had to remember this was the man who was ice cold and made no mistakes, even back in the academy.
“3. You, Mav, and Bradley,” he answered, “Now will you explain how you can see me?”
Ice nodded and fiddled with the watch in one hand and rubbed his forehead with the other, “It’s a bit of a story.”
Goose scoffed and rolled his eyes, “It’s not like I’m going anywhere, Iceman. Explain.”
Ice sat down in the chair behind the desk and spun the chair a bit so he was angled towards Goose, “Fine. It’s a family gift of sorts. I’ve assumed you’ve figured out you’re a guardian angel?”
Goose nodded, “Ya, took a bit to understand but Carole always talked like guardian angels were real to her. Once I remembered that it made a bit more sense but that doesn’t explain why you can see me over Mav or Brad.”
“It’s an old legend, folklore, shit I can’t remember the proper name right now. But over a thousand years ago some families got gifted with the ability to talk to guardian angels. No one knows how but one person figured out how to talk to theirs. It became a thing taught to a few who then proceeded to teach it down their family line because it became common for those within the family to get an angel. But they could talk to their guardian angel and see them but only catch a few words back from the angel.
“But around the 16th century, some figured how to strengthen these ties so they could have longer conversations and actually hear their angel. These items became heirlooms in these families. This is mine,” Ice finished explaining lifting the pocket watch by its chain to show to Goose. “It’s been in my family since the late 1700s.”
Goose straighten, “That's why you were asking Sarah for it.”
Ice nodded, “Yes she was holding on to it for me while I’d been out of the country. But this conversation can only happen for as long as I hold the watch. The second I put it down I can’t hear you anymore. I’ll catch only every 4th or 5th word. The stronger I’m thinking about you the more I’ll get but that’ll take more of my energy.”
“Why did you hear me that night?”
“Echo chamber effect. You were close and Maverick, someone who loved you deeply was thinking about you too. It boosts the effect a lot. I’ve also been seeing Angels around since I was 20 but my parents told a lot of stories about them as a kid,” Ice answered.
“Can you show me to others?”
Ice nodded, “The watch allows me to yes.”
Goose paused looking at Ice for a second before beginning to pace around the room in thought, mumbling under his breath as he did. He did it for a few moments before he paused and looked back to Ice who was just staring at him.
“You can’t tell them.”
“I know.”
“It’ll crush Maverick. He’s just pieced himself back together and gotten a bit back to normal. Bradley wouldn’t understand.”
“I know Goose. I’m not arguing.”
“They’ll think you’re insane. Even if not Mav will ask why and I don’t want it to destroy your relationship.”
“Half the time I think I’m insane but I don’t disagree.”
Goose sighed and ran a hand back through his hair, “So this stays between us. For now.”
“Until Bradley is 20 at minimum. In my family that's when the watch gets past to the eldest child. Then we’ll tell him and Mav,” Ice stated.
“You don’t think you and Mav are going to have a kid?”
Ice met Goose’s eyes once more, a look of guilt in them but also drive, “Bradley is our kid.”
Goose nodded and a small smile grew on his face, “Good. Brad will do good with you. You’re a better influence than Mav.”
Bradley turning 8 was a weird thing for Goose. The kid was taller than ever, had stopped asking him to tell him stories at night, and was practically attached at the hip to Mav or Ice when they were around. Carole had the date on the calendar circled in blue for the day Mav and Ice would come back for deployment, 11 days after Bradley’s birthday. And while the kid had been disappointed that they’d miss his birthday he was over the moon to just have them coming back after 8 months.
Since Goose’s talk with Ice, he’d spend the day with Bradley mostly, watching the kid and seeing how he and Carole were doing. When the rascal went to sleep he’d pop over to the carrier or wherever Ice was. Ice had taken to carrying the watch with him whenever possible. He left it in his bunk when he flew but other than that it was nearly always on his person. At the end of every day, he’d hold it when everyone else had gone to sleep and Goose would sit at the edge of the bunk, his legs hanging over the side, and tell him all about what Bradley had done that day.
Communication from the ship to land was a hard thing during deployments and Ice couldn’t get daily updates like that without Goose.
“Alright Bradley, you got to blow out the candles on your cake!” Carole sang as she placed the cake in front of Bradley on the morning of his 8th birthday before he went of to school.
Goose knew what was coming but the joy on Bradley’s face as it happened was one he’d carry with him forever.
Right as Bradley blew out the candles the doorbell rang and his closed eyes sprung open.
“Oh, I wonder who that could be,” Carole asked, her voice light and teasing, “Why don’t you go open it, Bradley? I think it's your present from Uncle Mav and Ice.”
He nodded and went bounding toward the door not bothering to stop before he threw it open with all the force he could muster.
“Bradley!”
“Uncle Mav!” he cried launching himself into Mav’s arms who was already squatting down a bit to catch him, “You’re here!”
“Well your Uncle Ice and I couldn’t just let our boy turn 8 without us now could we?” the pilot joked as he hugged Bradley back tightly before pulling back to let Bradley attack Ice for a hug as well.
“Uncle Ice!”
“Hey, kiddo. I’ve been hearing all about you this entire deployment. Your Uncle Mav wouldn’t shut up about your science fair you had last week once he got that letter of yours!”
Goose also hadn’t shut up about the science fair either to be fair.
“Did you hear I got 3rd place!? I made an F-14 model!” Bradley grinned as he took Ice’s hand and dragged him inside.
“Yes, I did” Ice smiled down at the kid.
“You got third place?” Mav asked in shock.
Shit. Goose had told Ice about the 3rd place win. That hadn’t been in a letter to them yet. Luckily Ice could just brush it off with it being assumed he was talking about the model that Bradley had been working on for two months.
They would have to work on preventing stuff he told Ice from slipping out.
“Mav,” Carole sighed leaning back in the recliner. Her eyes were watery and she refused to look at Maverick. Bradley was nearing the end of being 10 and was out at a friend's house post a baseball game while they had this discussion.
Mav was sitting on the chair across from the recliner. Ice was standing next to him, fiddling with the watch’s chain and looking at Carole who was clearly exhausted. Goose was squatting next to her, staring up at her with so much concern.
She’d been tired for months, feeling awful, and had started to have trouble breathing so she’d finally gone to the doctor. God Goose wished she’d gone sooner, that somehow he’d known and could have told her. Or told Ice to tell her.
“How bad Carole?” Mav whispered. His voice was cracking and anything but stable. Carole was one of his 3 favorite people in the world alongside Ice and Bradley. Losing her would be a knife in the heart to him. “How bad is it?”
She looked at Ice with a brief glance and then back to Mav. “It’s stage four. It’s already metastasized to my lungs. They’ll help keep me comfortable but I don’t know how long I’ll have. Maybe a year or two.”
Goose wanted to shout and scream and curse whatever god there was for doing this to his sunshine, to his Carole. Bradley had already lost one parent young, another would devastate him. God this would maybe kill Maverick too.
Goose looked towards Ice who was refusing to meet his eyes, “You got to help her Ice. You’ve got to help her somehow please.”
“Carole…”
“Don’t start Pete,” she cut him off as she straightened her back, “I already contacted a lawyer. I’m getting the paperwork drawn up to have you listed as Bradley’s legal guardian. Both you and Ice, you’re already his dads. He deserves to stay with both of you. We… we have time to put things straight. We have time to say goodbyes. Bradley will… he’ll live with you after if that’s ok.”
Maverick at a loss for words only nodded. Ice moved over to Carole, putting his hand on her arm in comfort.
“You move in with us Carole, permanently. Both you and Bradley,” he stated, refusing to look at Goose still though.
“Ice I can’t do that to you-”
Ice shook his head firmly, “Carole. Move in with us. We’ll look after both you and Bradley while you go through treatments. Rent your house out so you can cover the costs. Let us help you. Goose would have wanted us too.”
“Damn straight” Goose mumbled looking down at the ground.
Maverick was never one to break promises. That was one of the first things Goose learned about his friend. He promised to do something he went through with it. He knew it, Ice knew it, Bradley knew it, and Carole knew it. Only once did Maverick break a promise and Goose didn’t count it because it was an unrealistic one.
Bradley at 12 was asleep on the couch in the hospital room while Mav and Ice stood on either of Carole’s sides, each holding a hand. She was breathing in slowly, the oxygen mask they had on her doing what it could to help.
“We’ve got Bradley, Carole, don’t worry we’ll look after him,” Ice promised, closing his eyes and tightening his grip on her hand. It looked as if he was praying for a second before opening his eyes and looking back at Carole.
“You’ve… You’ve got to make sure he outlives his father,” Carole breathed out heavily, having to stop here and there between words. She shifted her gaze from Ice to Maverick “He wants to fly like all his dads. He’ll want to go to the academy.”
Mav didn’t meet her eyes.
Goose knew what she was going to ask before she spoke. God, his Carole had always been looking out for him and Bradley. She knew how much Bradley loved the sky, how it had been ingrained into him since he was a kid.
“Pete. You have to promise me not to let him go to the Academy.”
Ice’s jaw clenched but he didn’t say anything. This was a dying mother’s last wish. One that wouldn’t stop her son in the long run if he tried hard enough but would make it take longer and be more challenging. It was the most elegant solution to trying to keep Bradley out of a jet for longer. To get Bradley to grow older than Goose ever did.
“Carole,” Maverick whispered, looking at her with pain in his face, “He’ll hate it. He’ll maybe hate you.” Because Bradley at 12 could hold a grudge. An 18-year-old would be able to hold it worse.
“Carole,” Goose mumbled, trying not to cry, trying not to tell his wife she was wrong. Cause god, he agreed with her but Bradley was going to hate it.
“Promise me, Pete,” she asked again.
Ice looked to Goose and met his eyes. They both knew they couldn’t stop this. Carole was asking Mav. Mav, who would move the world for her if he could. Mav, who would promise anything to her when she was dying and keep it. Ice wouldn’t be able to talk him out of this if he agreed. Mav’s morals would be too strong to break it.
Maverick swallowed then nodded, “I promise Carole,” he whispered letting a tear slide down his cheek, “I promise.”
She nodded in relucent satisfaction and looked towards the couch where Bradley slept, “Take him home. He needs to sleep in his own bed. I… I don’t want him here when I pass.”
“I’ll stay here,” Ice insisted looking to Mav. One of them had to go and one of them had to stay. Bradley would fight less if he went home with Mav. Ice was the good man in a storm, he’d stay the night with Carole while Mav took Bradley home.
Mav nodded and moved over to the couch shaking Bradley lightly to wake him up, “Bradley, come on, we’re gonna head home Baby Goose.”
The tired boy mumbled some incoherent words as he used the back of his hand to try and rub the sleep out of his eyes. He looked up at Mav then stood up and walked over to Carole’s bedside.
“Love you, Mom,” he sniffled as he bent down to hug her.
Carole smiled at the side hug and wrapped an arm around him “I love you too Bradley. You… you be good for your uncles ok?”
“I promise,” he answered letting her kiss his forehead before pulling away. Mav grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly.
Ice nodded at Mav in acknowledgment and gave Bradley a quick hug before the two left the room. Once the door closed he returned to his spot next to Carole’s bed, taking her hand in his and sighing heavily. Goose walked over to stand next to him.
“Ice… Can you... Can you let me talk to her?” Goose asked, his voice rough as he tried not to choke on his own words. He hated this. That Carole was dying too. That Bradley was going to have lost them both before he was even a teenager. But, he had vowed to be by Carole’s side till death so he was going to stay here for this.
Ice took in a breath and looked over his shoulder towards Goose, “Are you sure?”
Carole’s breathing was growing slower. She wasn’t going to make it through the night.
“Yes.”
Ice took the watch out of his pocket where he always kept it and brought it up to Carole’s hand, before closing her fingers around it and cupping his hands over hers. He closed his eyes and mumbled a few words in what Goose thought to be Hebrew. And Goose felt the string between them tighten.
“Carole,” Ice whispered trying to get her attention as Goose moved over to the other side of the bed where the arm was down. “Goose is here to see you.”
Carole looked at Ice then shifted her head in the other direction where Goose was climbing into the bed to lay next to her partially.
“Goose?”
“That’s me, honey,” he replied trying to smile, to make her more comfortable.
"You taking me to bed or losing me forever?” she asked looking up at him before putting her face towards his chest.
"I'll show you the way home honey."
Maverick… Maverick wasn’t doing ok. Goose knew that Carole’s death and her promise hit him hard. He knew Maverick was trying to find a way to cope with it, with the fact he and Ice were all Bradley had left. Even 15 months after her death he was still struggling. So Mav did what he always did when he was struggling to cope. He pissed off an admiral and ended up getting orders to be sent off to Bosnia.
And Ice. Ice was enraged.
“Why did you have to go off and piss off another Admiral, Pete?!” Ice shouted at his partner as Mav moved around their room in the house. Ice was standing in the door frame to the bathroom watching Mav’s movements. Goose watched sitting on the nicely made bed as this all happened.
“It’s not like I wanted to get sent to Bosnia!” Mav barked back, refusing to look Ice in the eye as he tossed in more of his clothes.
Ice huffed and anger raged in his eyes, “No. You wanted to get deployed and leave Bradley and I.”
Mav froze for a second before turning to face Ice for the first time since the argument started, “Never,” he hissed, “Never suggest I want to leave Bradley. That Bradley is a burden in any way like you just did.”
Ice straightened more, towering over Mav, “I was not suggesting you didn’t love Bradley. I was stating that you have yet to fully process Carole’s, or god even Goose’s, death. And when the great Maverick Mitchell can’t fully process something he runs. So you pissed off Admiral Granger so you’d get a change of scenery and something to mentally stimulate you so you could get out of administration on North Island!”
“So, the great one-star lower rear Admiral Kazansky couldn’t get me out of this huh?” Mav snapped, “And here I thought you actually cared about your partner enough to get him out of a deployment to Bosnia. But instead, you’re too busy trying to climb the ladder and sucking off another guy to do it probably to care about us.”
And that was the line for Ice. And Mav knew it because the anger dropped from his face in the instant after finishing.
“Wait Ice I didn’t-”
“Get out.”
“What?”
“I said get out Maverick. You’ve finished packing your bag, get out of my house. You don’t get the right to say that when the only reason I’ve continued to accept promotions is for this family. To be here for this family, for Bradley. I stopped flying missions so I could be here for him, so Bradley didn’t have to worry about one of us dying. I stay present. You don’t. So get the fuck out and don’t come back until you’re ready to accept we need you here,” Ice stated as he shoved past Maverick and zipped up his bag. He picked it up and walked out of the room, Mav trailing behind him as he tried to apologize.
Ice didn’t listen though, didn’t stop till he’d opened the front door and threw the bag much harder than he should have, out onto the porch. He turned to Maverick who stood at the bottom of the stairs looking at him with complete shock.
“Ice I’m sorry-”
“No. I don’t accept that. You threw those words to hurt and now you pay the price. Get out of the house. Bradley will come to see you off tomorrow but you don’t get to sleep under this roof tonight,” Ice stated unrelenting, “Come back after Bosnia and when you’ve actually thought through what you said. Come back when you’re ready to deal and be present with your still living family.”
Mav paused, swallowing before he nodded. He moved to go out the door but before he did he grabbed one of the frames hanging on the wall. A picture of Bradley, him, Carole, and Ice all together. He then walked out the door and grabbed the bag Ice had thrown. Before he could even turn to glance back Ice had already shut the door.
Ice looked back to the top of the stairs where Goose stood gazing down from behind the banister.
“Are you going to say I was too harsh on him?”
“No,” Goose answered as he walked down the stairs, “You were right. He’s not present and still living in the past since Carole’s death even more than he was after mine. He needs a reminder of what he has on the ground.”
Ice glanced back at the door in what seemed like a little regret, “I… I don’t know what I’m going to do with him gone. I can’t protect him in Bosnia.”
“I’ll go with him,” Goose stated instead, “I’ll relay you messages. I can pop between you and him. I’ll let you know that he’s ok Ice.”
“Thank you, Goose.”
“Anytime Ice.”
The second Ice started coughing consistently Goose started glaring at him.
Ice hadn’t slowed down since Mav left. He’d taken up the role of being the remaining present parent in stride though. He was running all over town constantly. He was taking Bradley to his baseball games and piano lessons and helping him with homework. Goose was grateful Bradley had Ice. Ice was amazing and without him, Goose knew that this could all go to shit.
That’s why the cough and the sore throat that Ice had been repressing and covering so often scared him.
“You need to go see a doctor,” Goose told him one day when he’d popped back from Bosnia to update Ice on how Mav was doing. It had been 2 years since that argument that got Mav thrown out and he’d still yet to come home. And Goose was uneasy because something didn’t feel right about Ice’s cough.
“It’s nothing,” Ice brushed him off. He was getting ready to go to one of Bradley’s baseball games when the coughing spell had hit him. His voice was horse though when he talked, “You’re Mother Goosing it.”
“First I hate that term. Second, it’s not sitting right with me Ice. Go get that throat of yours checked before it’s too late. Please.”
Ice sighed and nodded. It was another 3 weeks before listened and went to see a doctor but after he’d always be fucking grateful for Goose.
“You were right to tell me to go to the hospital,” he told him one day when Goose was sitting in one of the chairs in his office, “It’s throat cancer. Stage 2 though so my doctor says it’s survival likely. 70% chance of me living 5 years or more.”
Goose’s eyes were locked on Ice. He didn’t say anything to him though.
“I… I hate to do this but if I don’t make it through the surgery and radiation you have to keep looking out for them. Both of them,” Ice stated as he closed his notebook to actually look up and meet Goose’s eyes. “Bradley will get the pocket watch and you’ll have to be the one to explain to him what it means. What all of this is.”
“You’re going to live Ice. You’re going to live even if I have to fight fucking god.”
Ice snorted, trying to cover a laugh at Goose’s statement, “I know you will. But Mav is getting called back though. He’ll get the orders tomorrow and if he comes home I’ll tell him and hopefully, we can rebuild our relationship.”
“It’s Mav. He’s been wallowing since he left. You’ve been writing emails to each other and you still love each other. If this fucking doesn’t work out I’ll murder him because then he doesn’t deserve you.”
A week later Maverick was on the porch of the house apologizing with the framed picture he’d first taken, offering it up to Ice as an olive branch. A month after that Mav and Bradley sat in a waiting room in silence, holding each other’s hands as they waited for Ice to come out of surgery. Bradley gripped tightly to the watch that Ice had asked him to hold during the procedure the entire time. Goose, who’d always been nauseous around blood his entire life, stood in the operating room the entire time, watching in silence as the person he was closest to get the cancer removed.
When they rolled the bed into a room post-surgery, Bradley and Mav waiting for him, Ice smiled at them both and held his palm open. Bradley placed the watch in the open hand and Ice’s fingers automatically closed around it. And standing behind his partner and son was Goose, who towered over both of them, smiling down at Ice. Goose who’d only popped into the room after the watch was back in Ice’s hand out of fear of Bradley seeing him.
Goose, who was and would continue to be Ice’s rock through whatever came.
Goose knew it was coming.
Bradley was amazing at baseball though so when he got the scholarship to UVA he was elated, dancing around the room in joy as Mav and Ice congratulated Bradley on getting the offer. His son was going to play Baseball at one of the best programs in the country. He could have a professional career off of this if he played right.
When Bradley didn’t get an answer from the Naval Academy he was sad of course. He thought he was a sure pick for them if he could get the offer from Virginia. But there was always the option of later. He was getting the golden ticket.
Mav and Ice helped Bradley move into his first dorm room on campus. And for one academic year, everything was perfect. Ice was in remission. Mav was bouncing around bases in the states of his own valiciton. Bradley was doing great in school even if he couldn’t do ROTC alongside baseball. And Goose was bouncing between all three of them, explaining to Ice how Bradley did in practice the day before. How Mav had nearly tripped on his face climbing some stairs. It was hard all of them being apart but they were all happy and Ice had climbed up to a two-star admiral.
Then came the first Navy vs UVA baseball game where Bradley played. It wasn’t a tough game with UVA easily beating the Navy. It was after that blew it all up.
Goose had been smiling happy, cheering his son on his participation in the win when the coach of the Navy team walked up to Bradley.
“You played good out there kid.”
“Thank you, sir,” Bradley grinned.
“Sure wish you would have come and played for us at the Academy with your history and having been raised by Maverick and Iceman. But you’re clearly where you belong Son.”
“What do you mean? I didn’t get an offer from the Academy.”
“Huh. I could have sworn you did. Even got your papers all approved before they got pulled. I assumed you pulled them yourself after committing to UVA. Either way. I wish you luck in the rest of your time with UVA.”
And that was the loose thread that Bradley decided to pull to undo the entire family. And Goose had no time to warn Ice. He could only watch as Bradley finished talking on the phone with the academy over his previous application.
Bradley sat there for a moment, gazing down at his phone in shock. And the anger set in. Bradley called Mav, who was actually at home in North Island with Ice for once and started to shout.
“Lose my number!” Bradley snapped over the phone, “Don’t call me. You don’t have the right anymore!”
“Bradl-“ Mav started instead to get cut off.
“No! You tore my dream apart after supporting it for 18 years. You don’t get the room to argue your case!” Bradley screamed.
“Bradley we were trying to look out for you,” Ice’s voice came through the phone. Ice who spent 2 years with an angry Bradley after Mav left for Bosnia. The one that could always calm down Bradley. “You’ll understand one day.”
Goose didn’t expect Bradley to hang up on Ice and Mav in anger out of nowhere. He didn’t expect Bradley to automatically block both Mav and Ice’s numbers along with the landline to their house. He didn’t expect Bradley to then delete said numbers.
Goose knew how they ended up here. The two, well one since he wasn’t alive and probably shouldn’t count, standing in a barebones dorm room at UVA. He knew exactly how they got here and there was nothing he could do to fix it.