A/N: In which Hollywood brushes up on Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvers (1985)... which, funnily enough, one can buy on Amazon.

They'd been sitting like that for a few minutes, Ice looking down at Mav sleeping, now curled into his side, when he finally looked up at Turner. "This is odd."

Wolfman snorted, laughing. "Everything that's happened the last two weeks, and THIS is the odd thing? Really?"

Mav mumbled something in his sleep, and Ice glanced down at him again. Then he spoke more clearly, and Ice frowned at him. "Talk to me, Goose," in a tone they'd not heard out of him in weeks. Two weeks, to be exact.

Turner moved to shake Maverick on the knee, but Ice shook his head. "Every time he starts talking like that, it leads to him needing to be woken up."

"No, I want to hear this one," Ice said, intrigued at the mumbled mention of Cougar and if he'd heard something, tone excited, if muddled by sleep. They listened as first it was one MiG, and then two, the second one was chased off... and then fun was had and Maverick laughed in his sleep. "Oh. So that's what this is."

"Oh?" Turner asked.

"They only said they'd been inverted over a MiG in a 4G dive," Wolfman explained. "Not the details of the event." He frowned at the concerned tone Mav's voice had taken on all of a sudden, right when it sounded like he was about to land.

"Goose, Cougar's in trouble... We're going after Cougar." A minute went by, and then: "Any of you boys seen an aircraft carrier around here?" Followed by him coaching Cougar, on his wing, all the way back.

Ice prodded Maverick's shoulder before Turner could try again. "Mav, wake up."

"Mmmph," Mav muttered, then opened his eyes and met Turner's concerned gaze, frowning. "Is Cougar okay, Doc?"

Turner nodded. "Yes, Lieutenant. He's fine. Sleeping it off."

"Good," Maverick said, and nodded off again.

Ice stared at Turner, dumbfounded. "He didn't know you before."

"He," Turner pointed out. "Is exhausted in the middle of a flashback you wanted to hear, and I've seen him and his fellow pilots and RIOs any number of times in Medical. He might not remember my name, but in that flashback, he recognizes me. A little. And it was true, Cortell was sleeping it off."

Ice nodded, satisfied with that answer. He had a thing or two to clarify with Merlin later, however.

"Kazansky?" When Ice looked at him again, Turner nodded to Maverick. "Don't ever take advantage of a flashback again for your own curiosity. You do, and I will personally kick you out and tell Jardian why. You get one, and only one, warning. Understood?"

Ice could feel Wolfman's glare without looking at him, and nodded. "Understood."

"Glad to hear it." Turner looked at Wolfman, noted where he was seated on the bunk, and pointed to another. "Get up and help me rearrange him, Wolfe."

Ice was left with Maverick using him as a pillow, and almost demanded that Turner, who had gone back to reading with a satisfied smirk, give the book to him.

Merlin wasn't surprised to find Hollywood in the Mess, nursing a cup of coffee while reading a book. No, what surprised him were two visibly tired aviators making their way thru breakfast and watching Hollywood, but pretending not to be. He sat down with his own tray and found that that was not a regular book. "Is that an aviation text book?"

Hollywood nodded. "I hate getting surprised from behind."

Merlin eyed the text book, then glanced over at Willard and Simkin. After a moment or two of thought, he beckoned them over. "You two were on standby yesterday, right?"

Willard nodded. "We were supposed to launch after Maverick, but then there was a catapult malfunction."

Hollywood barely glanced up as the two pilots joined them. "I'll bet that went over real well in CIC." He bit his lip, but kept his eyes on the book. "I couldn't see much from the water after we landed, but... Merlin? Did you two have a MiG on your tail and also nearly run into another?"

Merlin nodded. "And crossed into a jet wash."

"I have to ask, because I wondered all night while we were on patrol," Simkin put in, peering at Merlin and then at Hollywood who seemed intent on not looking up. "Why Iceman and his RIO were yelling as if they'd expected the panic attack and the disengage. I've spent a fair amount of time around Maverick while deployed, and that was really abnormal."

"Because we did expect it," Hollywood answered, voice tight with emotion. "Especially in a situation like that, with an added near-collision. Training accident two weeks ago. Flat spin."

Willard winced in sympathy. "Oh. I have questions, but now probably isn't the right time."

"They're probably the same ones that Sam had last night," Hollywood offered, then pointed to the maneuver he'd been studying. "Huh. I wonder if that works with a rolling reversal?"

Simkin craned his neck to get a better look. "Maybe. Why?"

"Because reversing on a hard cross is too fast to go to guns immediately?" Silence answered him and Hollywood finally looked up to find the three of them staring back at him, and Slider behind Merlin with a tray full of food, smirking at him. "Ah. You remember."

"Yes, and it was hilarious to hear him flirt with us all in the room," Silder said, making the other three jump at the sound of his voice as he joined them. "Would love to see Mav try it, though. You know, when he's not a walking bruise with a headache."

"Flirting?" Merlin asked. "While talking about maneuvers?"

Slider chuckled. "Civilian instructor. Blonde. Smart as a whip. Call sign Charlie."

"Oh." Merlin paused. "You know, suddenly it makes sense why Wolf sent her after Mav. And really, Ron: walking bruise with a headache?"

Slider shared a glance with Hollywood, then turned his gaze back to Merlin. "You know that ejection is basically the same as a high-speed car accident, Sam, but with rockets under our seats. That was two weeks ago, and there's what happened yesterday. Did you notice that the sunglasses stayed on, even in here last night for dinner? I'm amazed that he didn't crash while still wearing them."

Hollywood nodded. "And he still has bruises, if you know where to look." He noticed Willard and Simkin were visibly puzzled, and then his eyes dropped to the squadron patches both were wearing and his eyes widened in realization. "Merlin?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to feel stupid for asking this, but were Mav and Goose stationed here before they were sent to Miramar?" At Merlin's nod, he sighed. "Oh. No wonder there was compartmentalization. Everybody liked him." Hollywood caught Slider's eye, saw him sigh noiselessly. "Right. Ron..."

"Eventually, I'll be having a chat with Tom about being an idiot," Slider finally said, tone neutral, then looked at Willard and Simkin. "I can't talk about it yet and I watched it. If you have questions like it appears you do, ask Jardian, since it was his decision to say nothing and simply assign Maverick a new RIO without telling Merlin why, either. Tell him I sent you."

Willard nodded slowly, taking that in. "And Maverick? Where is he this morning?"

"Sleeping," Merlin told him. "Corpsman called it an understandable stress reaction, given, among other things: no medical leave following the ejection two weeks ago."

Simkin stood and lifted his empty tray. "Come on. Guess we have to report to the Commander after all."

Hollywood leaned closer to Slider after they'd left earshot. "I should feel bad about sending them to ask their Commander about it, but I don't. I'd sick those two on Viper and Jester if I could."

Slider had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing.

When Merlin returned with the requested ice packs, it was to the surprising and amusing sight of Maverick using Ice's upper thighs as a pillow while the man sat there with flat expression directed at the Corpsman who was pointedly ignoring him. "So..."

"He ate, he drank," Ice reported, glanced down. "And he's been quieter since he fell asleep again on me. I'm kind of afraid to move now."

"I'd prefer you didn't," Turner told him as he put the book down and looked at Merlin. "Especially since if left alone, he wakes up screaming. Ah, you brought the ice packs. Good."

"You really think that would happen again?" Ice wondered, only to wince when Turner turned back to stare at him. "Right. Of course you do."

"You're the one who wanted to listen to the Flashback, Lieutenant," Turner reminded him as he accepted the ice packs from Merlin and proceeded to lay them on Maverick's shirt-covered skin carefully, even down on his legs. "There. Now I'm satisfied. Wish I'd thought of it sooner."

"Why?" Wolfman wondered.

"Ejecting from a jet like that? Awful." Turner met Ice's gaze. "Was he walking stiffly after?"

Ice nodded. "Yes."

"And how bad is catapulting off the deck when you're not two weeks out from an accident like that?" All three of them winced and Turner nodded. "That is why the ice packs, gentlemen."

Merlin stared at Ice. "What flashback did you want to hear? Why?"

"Because he," Ice nodded down to Mav, "Didn't give me a straight answer about showboating with a MiG when I asked him, before, about who was covering Cougar." He winced under Turner's glare while Merlin spun to open his personal locker. "Don't look at me like that, Doc. Really. I get it."

"Glad you do," Turner said as he sat back down in the chair and picked up The Natural again. He frowned when Merlin came back with a walkman, which was handed off to Ice.

Ice studied the walkman, then looked at Merlin. "What's this?"

"Comms recording from the buzzing incident," Merlin explained, glaring at him. "Showboating? Really? He saved both our lives and got both a commendation and a chewing out for it."

"I know that now, I didn't at the time," Ice replied, then looked at the walkman again. "Why do you have a copy of it?"

"Bert in CIC let me borrow it to study." Merlin's gaze dropped to Maverick, noting how peaceful he seemed. Satisfied, he went and found a book to read from his locker and then joined Wolfman on one of the other bunks where the other RIO was again reading a newspaper. Merlin frowned at it, squinting to read the date... of a week ago. "Why are you reading last week's news?"

"We had no time in Miramar for anything but ACM," Wolfman explained with a shrug. "A week late is better than not at all."

Merlin nodded. That made perfect sense.