Sooo saw Top Gun Maverick twice so far in theaters. I am so sad there are not more fanfictions. I am posting this story as I post it to Tumblr as well. I am under the same user name and have quite a bit of content on there.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Dislaimer: I don't own Top Gun or Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 1

Miramar, California also known as FIghtertown U.S.A. was home to a very popular bar called The Hard Deck which was currently owned by Penny Benjamin. Penny had owned the bar for three years now and wouldn't have been able to successfully run it without the help of her bartender and daughter Lily Benjamin-Mitchell. Her daughter was now 27 and had recently graduated with her second master's in Business. Her first master's had been in marketing. Penny was very proud of her daughter with how far she had come in life. Penny was planning to pass the bar to her daughter within the next few years but wanted Lily to get the full hang of things at the bar before any talk of signing the bar over came about. Penny was currently counting out the bottles of alcohol she needed to restock out on the floor when she vaguely heard her daughter squeal. A soft chuckle left her lips as she grabbed the box of alcohol and walked out of the double doors that lead to the floor. A smile formed as she saw her daughter hugging the one man who had made Lily possible. Penny came behind the bar and set the box of alcohol down chuckling seeing the two embrace. She waited until Lily pulled away from her father and turned to go back behind the bar. "Pete…never thought I would see you here," she greeted lightly as she began giving her daughter bottles to organize.

Pete Mitchell - call sign Maverick - was a Naval Aviator and had been for over 30 years. He had first met Penny before going to Top Gun and reencountered her quite a few times over the years. One of those encounters ended up resulting in the birth of their beautiful baby girl, Lilian Nicole Benjamin-Mitchell or Lily for short. He had immediately claimed her and made sure to take time off to spend with her and get to know her and make sure he was a part of her life. He was extremely glad when she decided not to go into the military as he didn't want to worry about her while she was on the other side of the world from him. He supported Lily moving back to Miramar to work with her mother at the bar. He had supported her going to college again after getting her first master's. He would happily burn the world down for his daughter if it meant she was safe and had a stable life.

Lily loved planes just like her father and loved the thrill they gave her. The only reason she hadn't joined the Navy to follow her father's footsteps was because she had really bad eyesight and had to wear glasses since she was 6 years of age. The moment Lily turned 25, she had Lasik surgery done to fix her eyes so she wouldn't have to wear thick ass glasses every day for the rest of her life. Lily had her father's dark brown hair and stunning green eyes and was often called Sunshine by the Naval Pilots who attended Top Gun. Lily quite liked the name as she could surprisingly keep up with a lot of the jargon the pilots spoke because of the fact of who her father was. A lot of the naval personnel believed she was a pilot until she simply laughed it off and then would tell him she was simply a bartender and walked back to the bar. Lily had become quite popular with the pilots and the locals to the point where everyone considered Lily the owner of The Hard Deck instead of Penny who was happy to be able to take a step back.

Lily smiled softly as she listened to her father tell her about the test flight he had done and hitting Mach 10.4 before it blew up and he had to eject. Lily snorted as Pete told her what a kid had said when he asked where he was once he had reached a diner. She looked at him wide eyed. "He really said that? God, you must have looked like crap for him to think you were an alien," she quipped, wiping out shot glasses and turned as someone called for the barkeep. She plastered a simple smile on her face seeing a blonde Naval pilot giving what seemed to be a flirtatious smile. She popped open two beers and smiled at him as she slid them over to the pilot and turned back to her father just as Penny rang the bell because her father had his cell phone on the bar. She giggled, shaking her head at her father and came over to him. "Don't worry, Dad." She grabbed an empty container to go around and pick up the dishware and empty glasses and bottles. She hummed softly to the music that was playing in the background. She turned and gasped as she bumped into someone. Her head snapped up as she saw someone whom she thought she would never see again. Standing in front of her wearing light, blue jeans, a white tank top and a Hawaiian shirt that was unbuttoned paired with aviators. Sunshine swallowed thickly as her green eyes met the green ones of someone whom she had considered her first love. "Bradley," she greeted softly, sounding almost out of breath. She hadn't seen Bradley since he had yelled at her…blaming her for her father pulling his papers from the academy. She had been 11 years old when he had left for the academy. She had been 18 when she ran into him again. She had hoped to reconcile with him after not seeing him for 7 years, but he had blown up on her claiming she had known her father would pull his papers…claiming that she was selfish and unreliable just like her father. Sunshine adjusted the bin of empty dishes and bottles in her arms and looked away from him walking back behind the bar to have her mom take the bin to the back. The brunette quickly grabbed a towel to wipe down the bar doing anything and everything to ignore the stare she was getting from Bradley. She froze as her wrist was grabbed causing her to gasp and look up at Bradley.

-Flashback 9 years ago-

Lily stood under the intense rays of the sun as she smiled to herself to try and get a tan. She did occasionally like to not be a recluse and go out into the sun. She was slowly walking the sand while holding her sandals and dressed in a thin sundress that covered her bikini. Her brown hair was loosely tied back as aviator sunglasses covered her eyes. She gasped as someone bumped into her back and turned around to yell at the person who had bumped into her with no regard for her. She froze seeing Bradley Bradshaw standing before her…shirtless and sweaty. She swallowed thickly and removed her sunglasses from her face as he stared at her as if he had seen a ghost. "Bradley," she said lightly and frowned as he scoffed at her looking disgusted and walked away from her. What the hell had she done to him to warrant that kind of behavior? "Hey! I was talking to you Bradshaw," Lily snapped, narrowing her eyes at him as he stormed away from her. The moment that she said her last name he turned seemingly filled with anger and stalked over to her towering over her causing her to go wide eyed.

"You're such a selfish bitch, Lilian. I can't believe you would think letting him do what he did was okay," he hissed glaring at her clenching his fists as Bradley's anger got the best of him.

Lily furrowed her brow completely confused by what he was saying. Her confused look seemed to anger Bradley further as he leaned closer to her.

"Was it your idea for him to pull my papers? To set my career back years? Was it because of your stupid school girl fake crush on me you had your father pull my academy papers?" Bradley snapped at her blinded by his anger.

Realization dawned on Lily as she felt her own anger course through her body. "My dad pulled your papers?" she asked in a soft tone. "That was why you didn't go to the academy right away?" Lily looked down hearing Bradley scoff and walk off towards where his coworkers were. She looked up again watching leave and felt sick to her stomach realizing that her father was the reason why he hated her and why he couldn't go to the academy for years.

-End Flashback-

Sunshine blinked as she was drawn out of her thoughts as she heard Bradley call her name. She tried to pull her wrist away from his hand and frowned when he wouldn't let go. "What do you want?" she asked lightly, staring into his eyes. He had grown a mustache and looked almost exactly like his father. He had gotten tanner, and Sunshine could tell he was far more fit than she had ever seen him.

Bradley Bradshaw gazed at the woman before him, his mind going blank. He tried to remember how she looked the last time he saw her, but all he remembered was his anger coming out and directing it towards her. He knew she wasn't to blame for what her father did. Thinking back on it over the years, he realized that she hadn't even known that her father was the reason why his papers had been pulled. The pilot gazed at Lily and swallowed thickly letting go of her wrist watching as she quickly made herself busy wiping down the bar. He blinked rapidly, hiding away any emotions that were surfacing and turned as he heard the familiar voice of Phoenix.

"This is how I find out you're back in the states?" Phoenix called as she came over and hugged her fellow pilot. She smirked having seen the interaction between him and the bartender. "So…Roos what was that with Sunshine?" she asked, smirking at his confused look. "Sunshine the bartender you were just in a staring contest with? She works here with her mom, and the pilots have taken to calling her Sunshine."

Bradley - or Rooster as that was his call sign - frowned as he looked back over at Lily. He could tell she was on the verge of tears and having a panic attack. The sight of her that way made his chest tighten for some reason he didn't fully understand. He furrowed his brow seeing she was being comforted by a man whom he couldn't fully see. He turned back to Phoenix with a frown. "Nothing. It was nothing," he said with a tone of finality just as Hangman spoke, diverting his attention away from Lily…Sunshine…whatever her name was.

Sunshine was shaking as she finished wiping down the bar top. She looked at her father who knew immediately something was wrong with her. "I'm fine, Dad. I just wasn't expecting to see him again."

"Clearly something happened between the two of you for you to react this way," Pete said with a frown and looked at Penny who was equally worried. He gave a nod to Penny and handed her his card to be closed out of his tab that had been run up. "I'm taking you home," he said sternly and furrowed his brow as Penny gave him his card back saying it had been declined. He patted his pockets to pull out money and frowned as Penny simply smirked and rang the bell again to have some of the sailors throw him out of the bar.

Lily gave a small smile watching her dad get thrown out. She swallowed and looked at her mother as she was gently pushed from the bar by Penny.

"Go home. I can handle everything for the rest of the night," she said, nudging her to get out of the bar. Penny knew Lily was not in her right mind with the encounter between her and Bradley just now.

Sunshine sighed and grabbed her bomber jacket that had all of the patches of the squadrons her father had been to over the years slipping it on as she walked out feeling eyes on her. She glanced over her shoulder seeing Bradley stare at her as he started playing the piano. The brunette looked away swallowing and going over to where her father was listening and flashing back to Bradley's father. She touched his arm lightly. "Let's go home," was all she had to say before getting on the back of her dad's bike.