A/N: I finally learned how to spell Lieutenant without the spell check red-lining me. Small victories.

"You can fish all your life never knowing - it's not fish you're after."
-Tagline for The River Why (Movie)

"Do you have another one of those?" Merlin asked after a minute or so. Wolfman glanced at him, smiled, and handed the newspaper to him. "I didn't mean-"

"I've read it a couple times now, and have three more in my bag," he explained. "Wood also brought several, as well as a text book, his father's favorite novel that Turner is reading, and two other books. Plus, you've been out here for months with not a lot of contact with the world. Read. Passes the time." He stood, looked pointedly at Ice, who was still staring at the walkman in his hand. "Well? If you're not going to listen to it, can I?"

Ice rolled his eyes and put the headphones over his ears and pressed play. He listened for several minutes while Wolfman went and retrieved another newspaper from his locker, and then Ice blinked, startled, and had to turn the tape off. He stared at the walkman again, then met Turner's gaze to find the medic was watching him, an unreadable expression on his face. "I... I..."

Merlin frowned, put the newspaper down, and moved to take the walkman out of Ice's hands, the headphones off his ears. "Talk to me."

"Huh?" Ice blinked again, looked down at Mav, and then looked at Merlin, emotion in his eyes. "Goose."

Merlin nodded. "And?"

Wolfman plucked the walkman out of Merlin's hands and listened to it himself, then stopped the tape. "Oh. I get it. Tom? Take some deep breaths for us, all right?"

"I..." Ice took a deep breath and again looked down at Maverick with wide eyes, and then took another breath and let it out. "Altitude was falling. Mav must have been pinned forward and to the side from the spin, and Goose had to punch them out. I..."

"Deep breaths, Lieutenant," Turner told him, swatting Merlin's arm to make him move and give them space. "And now I'm glad you weren't awake to hear the nightmare of the training accident last night."

Ice took some more deep breaths, then looked at Turner in question. "What?"

"Just so," Turner said pointedly. "And it's normal to feel overwhelmed at reminders of bad things, even if the reminder isn't actually bad. Trauma is relative."

"And like Slider said last night," Wolfman reminded him. "We've had no time for anything since. It hasn't been that long."

"Crap," Mav said sleepily, and Ice looked down at him again, startled at his tone.

"Even Mav agrees," Wolfman said humorously, and Ice looked at him oddly. "Or he's about to have a flashback. Hard to tell."

"..won't recover..."

"Oh," Ice said, and shook Maverick's shoulder. "Mav?"

"Mmph," Mav muttered and came awake, to look up at Ice in sleepy confusion. "World's spinning."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Mav blinked, shivered. "Ice? Why am I cold?"

"Ice packs," Ice told him, nodding to Turner. "His idea. Seemed to think you needed it. I'm in agreement, Mav. You're warmer than you should be."

"Oh. Want a NATOPS."

"You do? Why?"

"Brush... up." Maverick yawned. "Want answers. Canopy."

Merlin frowned then, knowing that until he could stay awake for longer than minutes at a time, that was the most he was going to be able to explain. "All right, we'll get you a NATOPS manual." Mav smiled and went back to sleep. "Aborted spinning flashback?"

"Sounds about right," Ice agreed. "NATOPS manual?"

"It's the most sense he's made since yesterday at debrief and dinner," Wolfman pointed out and offered the walkman back to Ice. "Want to try again?"

"Later. You listen to 'em. I'd..." Ice paused, blinking again and had to shake his head. "To hear them, like that? It's a lot. I didn't even realize how much I missed Nick until right now. How is that possible?"

"No time," Turner reminded him, and nodded to the pilot sleeping in his lap. "Also, he might have had all of your attention, even if you didn't realize it."

Wolfman stood there for a moment, then spun on his heel and returned to his locker, intent on rooting through it. Finding what he was looking for, he moved to hand a book to Ice, and then sat down again on an open lower bunk. "Sounds about right."

Ice frowned at the paperback book in his hands with a fisherman and a hook on the cover. "Is this about fishing?"

Wolfman smirked. "Yes. It's about your speed right now, and I think I saw an over-parked Winnebago cross your face at least once recently."

"A what?"

"Read, Ice."

"Why do I want to read about fishing?"

Merlin shrugged and joined Wolfman again on the bunk. "We could always get you the NATOPS manual, so you can go over it with Mav when he actually does wake up..."

Ice paused, then opened the book to the first page. "Over-parked Winnebago, huh?"

Wolfman continued to smirk. "Oh yes." He caught Turner's eye, and the man nodded in appreciation. And then he put the headphones on and lost himself in a mission where they'd been buzzed by two MiGs.