A/N: (1) I killed a second ink pen in prep for typing this part. It did not die in vain. (And now we have back story drabbles, which is a step up from NOT being able to do it when I originally intended to do write drabbles instead of going long. When I was I? June.)
(2) Part title may or may not be a reference to Jill Bearup...

The atmosphere in the bunk room had been one of camaraderie for more than an hour when Merlin noticed Hollywood frowning first at his cards and then at his RIO and back again. That went on until finally Merlin sighed and put down his cards face down. "Wood?"

"What?"

"You might as well say what's on your mind."

Hollywood shook his head. "Got any twos?"

"No," Merlin told him patiently, and now Ice was looking at both of them funny.

Hollywood picked up a card, then rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Doc? Can we talk about the Elephant in the room?"

"I like elephants," Maverick said in his sleep, startling them, and Turner peered over at him, then shrugged.

"Depends on what the Elephant is, Lieutenant," Turner told him. "Ron, hug him a bit closer and put a hand over his ear to muffle."

"He's already practically in my lap, but sure." Slider did as he was told, then frowned at Hollywood. "What's going on?"

"I want to know what Viper told you, Wolf," Hollywood said evenly, staring at his RIO.

Slider met Turner's concerned, knowing gaze. "Oh, right. That. I want to know, too."

Wolfman studied his cards. "Told me about what?"

"Stinger has a heavily redacted report from eighteen years ago," Turner explained before Hollywood could open his mouth again. "Which had a peculiar but probably understandable in context request written on it from Commander Metcalf to 'as a personal favor, please don't let Maverick do anything stupid.'" He shrugged when Ice snorted in laughter.

"It does make sense," Ice said humorously. "Wolf?"

Wolfman shrugged. "You're not asking the right question, because he didn't tell me anything. Charlie did, or rather the notepad she was writing on did, and then I helped her look some things up." Sighing, he finally put the cards down and glanced up at Maverick with an unreadable expression. "And it's weird, but I knew about the Otis Redding song before Jenkins told me to tell the nurses to just let him sing and wait him out, but not the context. At the time, it was just a really odd detail that didn't make sense, among other details that made no sense."

Hollywood paused. "When did you help Charlie with research? And what was she researching?"

Wolfman nodded to Maverick. "What happened to Duke Mitchell, because of the story Mav told her. And it was weeks ago, Wood. You remember? I was late getting back from the base library, because I wanted a book on radar systems. That was why."

Merlin shared a quizzical look with Ice. "And now we've got Viper begging us to keep Mav out of trouble as a personal favor, when it wasn't SOP that the five you of even be here."

"And a cover story for what happened to a Naval Aviator that's full of holes," Wolfman agreed. "In fact, so full of holes, you could call it swiss cheese, and the cheese might take offense."

Now Ice set his cards down and took a deep breath. "Do I want to know how full of holes?"

"You could always ask Mav what the official story is," Wolfman suggested, moving to put a hand on Maverick's knee. "Instead of me."

"No," Turner said before Ice could, glaring at Wolfman. "Just tell us. He's had enough trauma for one day and I'd like to keep him calm, or Ron wouldn't be muffling his hearing."

Wolfman nodded. "All right. The official story, if you'll remember, is that he vanished in an F-4 in November of 1965. Only... VF-51 wasn't flying F-4's until 1971, and Duke Mitchell was actually home for a month on leave in early 1968. Because VF-51 was, is, stationed at Miramar, Charlie was able to get his service record with her security clearance. At least most of it, because some of it was redacted, even then." He glanced again at Mav, asleep with his hearing muffled against Slider's chest. "And that Otis Redding song that Mav has stuck in his head, that his mother made him play over and over again? Released in January of '68. I found that detail about the leave, and Charlie said something about children's memories being fluid."

"Ah," Turner said, making them all look at him. "She's not wrong, and if his flashbacks are anything to go by, the trauma would probably make him forget the exact timing of things." Hollywood frowned at him. "It lines up with a lot, really."

"And we still can't actively talk about it," Ice reminded him, nodding to Maverick.

"Still wondering what the Laos connection is," Wolfman muttered, staring down at the abandoned cards. "Bogies like fireflies? Lines on a map?"

Turner snorted. "Wasn't just Vietnam on fire, kid, but I guess you wouldn't know about certain things to make it make sense. Officially, the Civil War in Laos wasn't happening. Unofficially, whole different story." The five of them stared at him. "What? That's probably why there was a cover-up by the State Department. Politics is messy. But no, Kazansky, it is better that you do not discuss it openly, not even with the kid over there. At least until we know why Metcalf would make such a request, that is."

"Other than the obvious, you mean," Ice pointed out with another laugh.

Turner nodded and looked down at the book in his hands. "Yes, other than that." He heard a yawn and frowned. "Which one of you was that?"

"Wolf," Hollywood said, peering again at his RIO, who wasn't looking back at him. "Leo?"

Wolfman shook his head, avoided his gaze. "I'm not tired."

"And you're the one who didn't take a nap," Merlin said carefully, tone neutral.

Hollywood glanced at Merlin, then nudged Wolfman in the shoulder. "Come on."

"Not tired," Wolfman said again while yawning, then blinked when Hollywood pointed to his own bunk. "Wood, that's your bunk."

"And you're going to get up there with me. Come on."

Slider waited as Hollywood coaxed Wolfman all the way up to the top bunk, waited as they settled down, and then released his grip on Maverick's ear. Mav grumbled against him unintelligibly, and then slid down to actually be laying in his lap, like he had been with Ice. "Guess that answers the question of weather or not I get to move him back to his own bunk."

Merlin leaned over and tugged at Turner's sleeve. "I don't recall getting Wolf to actually talk about anything."

Turner nodded. "That makes sense. Give him a couple days and let Neven deal with it like he is." He met Hollywood's concerned gave, for Wolfman had gone right to sleep despite his protests. "You were shot down, after all. People react in different ways."

"So," Ice said as he picked the cards up and shuffled the deck. "Sam, do you know how to play Crazy Eights?"

Merlin smiled. "Yes." Ice dealt out seven cards each, and the game began.