Title: Seeing a Trailer
Author: daenabenjen42
Fandom: Top Gun
Disclaimer: Nope. All the nope. To quote BrightFeather on this occasion: "I borrowed them, hugged them, squeezed them, called them George, and put them back like a good girl."
Characters: Sam "Merlin" Wells, Ron "Slider" Kerner, Rick "Hollywood" Neven, Leonard "Wolfman" Wolfe, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky
Notes: Everything I know about Aircraft Carriers comes from J.A.G and Wikipedia entries. Also, this was supposed to stay a viggie. It did not.

It was only later, after the madness of the rescue that was the Layton and the de-brief that followed, that Merlin could finally ask what he'd been wanting to, spurred further on by both Maverick and Ice having had combined adrenaline crashes.

Merlin yawned and watched as Slider, for the forth time that evening, again started playing Solitaire with a deck of cards on the deck of their quarters while keeping watch on Ice as he slept. Silder looked as tired as he felt, but his face had an odd, grim set to it. As if his mind was on more than the events of the day. He glanced up at Hollywood, seated up on the bunk above Ice, reading a book while his own RIO was perched on a chair near the head of the bunk that Maverick had crashed out on, reading a newspaper. "So... one of you should explain, preferably before I get written up for yelling at the CAG and demanding answers of him. What happened? Where..." Here Merlin motioned to Maverick, who was dead to the world he was so deeply asleep. "...is Goose? Did he stay stateside?"

At first, there was no answer from the three of them, then Slider looked up at him from the cards with haunted eyes. "Accident. Two weeks ago. Today was Mav's first time back in a cockpit since... was it four or five days after, Wolf?"

Wolfman didn't even look up from the newspaper. "Five, I think. Sundown's ears might still be ringing from when he pushed too hard and Mav yelled at him." He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, and kept on reading the newspaper.

Merlin stared at him, startled at those details. What kind of accident was this? "What? Mav never yells. Gets yelled at plenty, usually by both our Captains, but... details. Now."

Slider nodded and returned to his game of Solitare. "Right. Training accident, engine flameout from getting caught in our jet wash during hop 31. Goose... hit the canopy during ejection because of the flat spin. He... you can guess, Sam. I thought someone told you already."

Merlin's gaze shifted to Maverick, eyes wide in understanding. That explained a lot, including the uncharacteristic disengaging right after they themselves had gotten caught in the jet wash from the MiGs. Then he noticed something metallic in Mav's hand and he reached over to carefully open the other man's fingers to get a better look. Dog tags. Squinting, he read them and wasn't entirely surprised. "Ron?"

"Hmmm?"

"Goose's dog tags."

Now Wolfman, whose name was actually Leonard, Merlin had learned, looked up with a frown. "Really?"

"Really." Carefully, Merlin put the tags back in Maverick's hand and closed his fingers around them. Had he had them in the middle of everything, too? Probably. He glanced at Slider, who was still focusing on the cards in front of him. "That doesn't surprise you."

"No," Slider muttered, his tone husky from emotion that wasn't showing on his face. "The Coasties said they had trouble getting him to let go." He took a deep breath and let it out again. "What I can't figure out is how he went from quitting to actually showing up to Graduation. Still bugs me, and I didn't dare ask him."

"Charlie," Wolfman answered, his tone dry. "Though afterwards, she didn't think she'd convinced him. She said she found him at the Airport bar, nursing an ice water." Merlin turned and looked at him funny. "I know, right? That's basically what I said, man. 'Ice water? What?'"

The oddness of that, the ice water, instead of something hard... Merlin could not suppress a snort of laughter, which was cut short by Mav letting out a sleepy, wordless sob, and that was when he figured out why Wolfman was seated where he was with that newspaper.

Wolfman set the newspaper down and reached out to shake Maverick awake. "Hey! Mav!"

Mav's eyes shot open and he stared up at him, breathing hard, and for a moment Merlin wondered if he was having a panic attack on top of everything else. "Wolf?"

"Yeah."

"Bad. Ocean cold."

Wolfman nodded. "Yes it was. I'm okay, though. So is Rick. Wood?"

From the top bunk, Hollywood waved at him. "Right here, Mav."

Mav squinted up at him, then looked at Merlin, then at Wolfman again. "I... want Carole. And Bradley. And..."

Wolfman nodded. "Understandable, and right now I want them here, too. Back to sleep with you."

"Can't."

Merlin winced internally at the emotion in that one word, but Wolfman seemed to take it in stride.

"Tell me that when you can form complete sentences, hmmm?"

Mav looked like he wanted to argue, which was something Merlin would have sold tickets for: Maverick arguing with anyone while incredibly tired. Going by what he was beginning to understand, it had been an incredibly traumatic two weeks... when had he slept last, if he was this tired now? He watched as Mav's eyelids slid shut again and his breathing evened out.

"I wonder if we could get Carole on the phone tomorrow," Slider mused, then reached over and jostled Ice's arm, or while they had been focused on Maverick, Ice had started twitching and mumbling in his sleep. "Tom!"

"I'm up!" Ice mumbled, then stared at him. "What?"

"Nightmares. Yours."

Ice blinked sleepily at him, then looked at Merlin, and beyond him to Maverick. "Sorry."

"For what? Too much has happened, not enough time to really process anything." Slider motioned with a card to Hollywood and Wolfman. "They did get shot down, after all."

"Yeah," Hollywood spoke up, his tone rueful as he returned to his book. "That fifth MiG was a really big surprise. I almost want to tell Viper about that sneaky maneuver, so he can pull it on the unsuspecting."

Ice stared up at the bottom of the top bunk, frowning. "There is that. What time is it, anyway?"

Merlin glanced at his watch. "Twenty-Hundred. Also, you're more verbal than Mav right now."

"I saw him nap at least once on the transport," Ice muttered as he leaned up on his elbow to peer over at him, and saw the chain of something in Maverick's hand. "But other than that, I have no idea when he slept last before that. What's in his hand? Looks like metal."

"Because it is metal," Merlin explained. "Goose's dog tags, to be exact. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around a jet wash-caused training accident that no one, not even our CAG, told me about before now. He simply told me that a pilot was coming in that needed a RIO, but not who. And then I found out who needed a RIO and there was no time to ask why."

Ice winced. "Jardian actually didn't tell you?"

"No, he didn't."

Slider sighed. "He would have deserved you yelling at him in frustration there, Sam. In fact, I would have loved to see you do it."

"And I still would have gotten written up for it, no matter the circumstances." Merlin saw the slight quirk of a smile on Ice's lips and shook his head. "Back to sleep with you, too."

"And you?"

"I'm planning on commandeering the cards for Go Fish."

"No you're not," Slider told him. "Find your own focus task."

Eventually, Merlin convinced Slider into a rousing game of Go Fish, and Ice drifted off back to sleep.