A/N: I was literally "does the Enterprise have a photo lab?" (It must, because of the chance of doing low-level flying photography passes.)

Weeks ago...

He wanted to be frustrated, to lash out at the subject of his annoyance as Ice had done, but listening to the hushed conversation, Hollywood couldn't keep the anger going. What he heard was self-recrimination and acknowledgement that Maverick did indeed know better. He was still annoyed that he'd been left to fend for himself with no wingman, but... was he angry? No.

Watching Goose get up and smile, he caught the man's eye and nodded. Goose wasn't unaware of the ongoing issues, either, even if verbally they'd been talking about a trophy and points. Right here, now, this was about something different.

He was left, standing there a few feet from Maverick against the wall of the locker room, and watched as he sat down, sighed, and stared at the ceiling. It was a show of vulnerability that gave Hollywood something to think about.

Eventually, he reached over and tapped Mav on the shoulder, and tilted his head in question. Maverick blinked, startled, as if he'd forgotten he wasn't alone, and then shook his head. "Never happening again," he repeated.

Hollywood simply nodded in reply, unsure of what to say.

Now...

The corridor wasn't empty when Merlin returned to their quarters with a bag from medical after returning the ice packs. He'd even managed to find an F-14 NATOPS Manual. He should have been surprised to see Willard and Simkin waiting outside the hatch, talking in hushed voices, but he wasn't. "So..."

"We wanted to check on you," Simkin told him. "And Maverick. All of you, really. And there's these." Simkin handed a thick manilla envelope over. "Pictures."

Merlin frowned at the envelope. "Pictures?"

"What we could find," Willard explained. "Of Nick. Taken on board since deployment. Might even be some of Cougar in there."

Merlin paused, then opened the hatch and peered in. "Slider? Out here a minute."

Slider joined him, nodded to the two aviators. "Hi." Merlin handed the bag and the manual to him, and he frowned. "Right..."

"The bag is for Turner. Mav wanted the manual."

"He's awake?" Willard wondered, and Slider shook his head in the negative.

"No," Merlin explained. "He asked for it when we had to wake him again out of a flashback. Something about the canopy, if that makes any sense right now." And then he dragged both of them into a hug while Slider watched with raised eyebrows. Slider watched them, then decided to give them privacy and ducked back into the bunk room.

"Uh, Sam?" Simkin said after a minute. "Air." The hug actually got tighter, and he caught Willard's gaze over Merlin's head. As one, they returned the hug with equal force until Merlin started to squirm. "All right?"

"I..." Merlin squirmed again and they released him. "Getting there. Thank you. For the pictures, too. You didn't need to do that."

"Yes," Willard told him. "We did. If nothing else, it gave us something to do to feel like we could make this situation a bit better. You know... when Maverick does wake up to be able to appreciate it. And I know how much of a void Cougar left for all of us."

Merlin held up a hand and opened the hatch again to peek, then nodded and opened it wider so they could see in. Ice frowned back at him. "They brought us pictures."

"And we're not staying," Simkin said quickly, peering at Maverick. "Is he singing?"

"Yeah," Slider spoke up. "Social services guy that Wolf spoke to didn't explain that one."

"Social services?" Simkin wondered, looking to Wolfman, who shook his head.

"Still wondering about that," Wolfman said honestly. "At least it's this song and not You've Lost That Loving Feeling." He grinned when Hollywood, Ice, and Slider all snorted in laughter. "See? There's an upside."

The two aviators bid their goodbyes and Merlin closed the hatch behind them, then leaned against it and stared at the envelope in his hands. Then he looked over at Turner, who was examining the contents of the bag with an expression that looked like amusement. "They thought you might need-"

"Oh, I realize that, Wells. Hadn't thought of certain things yet, and I'm glad someone did. Why don't four of you go for a walk and give us fifteen or so minutes? Some things do not need witnessing." He noticed how hopeful Ice looked, and smiled at him. "Oh, no. You're staying. Ron, bring some water bottles back with you."

"We have that," Ice motioned to the 7-Up.

"That isn't for you, and you've eaten a meal," Turner explained patiently as Merlin, Slider, Wolfman, and Hollywood left as requested.

In the hallway, Slider frowned at Merlin. "What was in the bag?"

"Why would Turner be wanting as much privacy for Mav right now as is possible?" Merlin questioned back, and waited while Slider thought about it. "Especially if he'll need to be awake for it and Turner doesn't trust him to successfully navigate to the head?"

Slider paused, realization dawning on his face. "Oh." He glanced at Hollywood and Wolfman. "Gym?"

"Gym," Hollywood confirmed.

When they returned to the bunk room about forty-five minutes later, Merlin was surprised to find Mav sitting up on the far end of his bunk, hugging his knees, and staring at nothing while tears rolled down his cheeks. The oddness of it caused him to stop, and then Wolfman ran into him before pivoting and darting around him. "Should we go for another walk?"

"No," Turner said, tone even, but his posture was anything but calm. "Come in and sit down. This... We figured out why Jenkins would be warning about the singing. Should have taken that seriously."

"Why?" Wolfman asked as they all took their seats on the two open bottom bunks.

"Because I didn't think anything would come of waking him up while he was singing. My mistake, and he was pliable at first, doing exactly what I told him to do..." Turner took a deep breath and turned to study each one of them in turn, then shifted his attention back to the aviator currently huddled almost in a ball on the bunk. "This explanation stays here, Gentlemen. It was years ago for him, but right now, it just happened. Trauma is real, and this... this is a flashback. He would not have normally had it, under normal circumstances, but it is trauma all the same."

"Not understanding yet," Hollywood said softly.

"Pete, come back over here, huh?" Ice prompted, and Mav shook his head violently. "All right. You can stay right there. What's the song, Pete?"

"Mom would listen to it for hours," Mav whispered, and they all winced at how raw he sounded. "Over and over again. Sick of it."

"And what year is it?" Turner asked, causing the four of them to look at him funny. "Pete?"

"Seventy," came the answer and Ice looked to Turner in question.

"Ten," Turner answered, glancing at the rest of them. "And I'm not going to pry the rest of the details from him. Not like this." He reached down and quickly put something in the bag that none of them had noticed had been at his feet.

Hollywood frowned. "So Jenkins met him when he was eleven? That's the next year, and... why 1970?"

"Kid's suggestible, Lieutenant," Turner cautioned, his tone now one of warning. "Also the answer to that is emotionally complicated. I know, because I went over his file with Commander Jardian. I want him out of this flashback state, not to stay in it. Ideas?"

"Yeah," Wolfman said. "Ron, I need the deck of cards. Pete, you know how to play Go Fish?"

"We are not doing that again," Slider muttered as Mav finally looked at Wolfman, and he paused. "Okay. We're doing that."

"Go Fish?"

"Yeah." Wolfman slid to the floor and caught the rubber-banded deck of cards that Slider tossed to him. Then he patted the deck. "Come on, kid. We're playing Go Fish. Wood, Merlin? Join us."

Slowly, Mav joined him on the floor, and Hollywood and Merlin slid off the bunks to the floor. "Doesn't everybody know how to play Go Fish?"

Merlin grinned at Slider, who rolled his eyes at him. "Kid's got you there." Looking at Mav up close as the tears stopped and he rubbed at his cheeks to dry them, he was struck by just how young he seemed.

"All right, so it was an amusing half-hour," Slider admitted. He watched at Merlin grabbed the envelope he'd carried all the way to the shipboard Gym and back, and handed if off to Hollywood, who passed it over to Ice, who frowned at them, but opened it anyway. Then he smiled. "What's in there?"

"Pictures," Merlin answered as Wolfman dealt the cards out four ways. He watched Mav crane his neck to look back at Ice with a frown. "Later, kiddo."

"Are they good?" Mav asked.

Ice shared another glance with Turner, who shook his head. "Yes. Play your game with the guys." He folded the envelope back up and set it aside, then leaned over to Turner, lowered his voice. "Are you sure we can't keep him like that?"

"Would you want to explain a ten year old Pete Mitchell to the CAG?" Turner asked with a snort of laughter, his posture relaxing slightly as two RIOs and an aviator started playing Go Fish with a Pete Mitchell that clearly wasn't quite himself.

"No," Ice muttered and sat back again against the wall. "You've seen this before."

"Not for a while, but yes. It was nerve-wracking then, too." At Ice's questioning expression, Turner shook his head. "Not the time for those kinds of stories, Kazansky."

Ice noticed that Mav was looking back at him again, eyebrows furrowed as if he was confused by something. "Pete?"

"Ka-za-sky?" Mav tried, tripping over the name as if he'd never heard it before, and then Hollywood nudged his knee and pointed to the cards in his hand, redirecting him. "Oh. Threes?"

"Go fish," Hollywood told him, and glanced at Ice with a shrug. "In his defense, it is kind of hard to say right off." Ice simply nodded.

They went through three more card rounds, and then Mav yawned and stared at his cards as if he'd just realized he was holding them. Then he blinked, shook his head, and yawned again. "Why are we playing cards?" He looked up at Hollywood, then Wolfman, then Merlin, who were all watching him with what they thought were neutral expressions. "Uh..."

"Back with us now?" Ice asked, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. Maverick glanced back at him over his shoulder, frowning.

"Was I not, before? Here, I mean."

"No, and we'll tell you tomorrow why that was. For now: how do you feel?"

Mav yawned again. "Tired. Why am I so tired?"

"Now that," Turner said, slight humor in his tone. "That, I have an answer for, Lieutenant. Stress and lots of it, and you should have had medical and bereavement leave. You did not, you're human, and it's natural, normal even, to be tired right now. In fact, since you're up..." Here, Turner lifted the cover on the food tray and then handed the wrapped sandwich to Ice, who handed it to Maverick. "Eat that for me."

Mav eyed him dubiously. "Huh?"

"Eat, Mitchell. It might seem ridiculous, but it really isn't." Mav did eat the sandwich, and then Ice handed him a glass, and he took one sip and then stared at it. "Before you ask why that's not water: if you don't remember right now, because you did ask last you were awake, you've had a bit of a fever. Drink that, please."

"Don't I get a say?"

"You had a say," Hollywood broke in, startling them with how rough with emotion his voice suddenly was. "And you ended up in this state, Mav. It's our turn, you idiot."

Turner paused at that, and peered at Hollywood to find that the expression on his face rivaled his voice tone. "I wouldn't have phrased it quite that way, Lieutenant Neven. Accurate, yes, but... tact."

"Done pretending."

Turner nodded, and took the glass when Mav was done with it. Mav himself was looking from face to face, frowning, before settling on Merlin.

Merlin sighed. "None of us are Nick, and I don't know how to be Nick for you. None of us do, Mav. But we are here, ready to listen when you're ready. To help. You just have to be willing to accept the help... or Rick might sit on you until you let someone in."

"Had an uncle," Hollywood explained, voice still harsh with emotion. "Liver failure from losing himself in the bottle for years after his tour. 'Nam." Mav winced.

"Older brother," Ice volunteered. "Navy SEAL. Was in 'Nam '72 to '74."

"My aunt was, is a nurse," Wolfman added. "Evac hospital '68 to '71. She sees a psychiatrist regularly, but almost never talks about it otherwise. Too hard."

Mav glanced at Turner in question, and the Corpsman shrugged. "I was medical. Saw some dang nasty things that I'm never telling you or anyone else about... and if you catch him in a mood, Stinger has some stories of his own that might curl your hair. Ron?"

Slider sighed. "Mine's odd. A cousin of mine is married to a double amputee whose first wife left him while being repatriated at Balboa, and she was volunteering and hanging onto hope that her brother wasn't lost over there." Ice frowned at him. "Oh, her brother's alive. Nice guy, too. Kiki loves to tell that story because she thinks it's hopeful... and also an important lesson in when not to give a quadriplegic access to a motorized wheelchair."

Turner looked to Merlin, but the RIO simply shook his head, mouthing 'not now.'

"Bogies like fireflies," Mav said suddenly, the bitterness in his voice surprising them, after a minute or two of silence, yawning again, then he looked at Turner. "I get the too hard to discuss part of it, Corpsman. I never would have known what actually happened to my Dad if I hadn't gone to Viper's house to discuss my options and seen the pictures in his living room. He caught me looking." Turner frowned, motioned for him to continue. "State Department cover up and lines on a map. He saved three planes while wounded."

"When did Viper tell you?" Ice asked carefully, tone a mixture of curious and concerned.

"Sunday."

Ice shared a look with Slider, then gruntingly pulled Maverick, who yelped in surprise, back up onto the bunk and into a tight hug. Mav froze at the contact and then melted into his side again and began to cry. If Ice was surprised by the crying, it didn't show on his face.

A couple minutes went by in silence, save for the sound of crying and the far-off sound of a plane being launched off the catapult not-so-far above them, and then Mav was asleep again.