A/N: The more I write, the more I discover the wonderful liberties available when messing with canon.

A little note on TOPGUN: To my major disappointment, it's no longer called that, and likewise, it's no longer at Miramar base either but please refer to the note above regarding messing with canon. The same rule applies to reality.
If anyone is interested and for the sake of accuracy, it's actually called the "Unites States Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program" and it's located at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.
But seriously, California is definitely cooler.
As is TOPGUN.

Nowadays, Miramar is in fact owned by the marines. It was the home of TOPGUN in its heyday. And yes, TOPGUN was for both navy and marine pilots – but not the army cause their just not as cool and hey, teaching the air force the best in fighter pilot combat techniques sounds waaay to sensible right?
Anyway, all these are true and the fact that they just happen to not be all true at the same time is, as far as I'm concerned, redundant.

And this is the final chapter. Thanks for sticking with me through the whole thing and an especial big thanks to those who reviewed – you know who you are and that I am forever grateful! This is for you!

Chapter 25

It was a glorious Sunday morning. The sort of Sunday morning that marines who have just completed their training and were about to enjoy several weeks of well-deserved holidays before beginning
their active deployment - and everybody else for that matter – ought to spend lazing in bed.
Those who have somebody to wake up to especially ought to be enjoying the warmth of the sunlight and the pleasantly crushing weight of tangled bodies.

Which was exactly why Shane Schofield was perched on a rock, in a deserted corner of a marine base, watching the cars scurrying below him and the planes soaring overhead, with the sound of birds twittering and the occasional gunshot in the background.
Naturally.

"Whatcha doing handsome?" A lusty voice said as Mother's sizeable frame appeared in his peripheral vision. Sitting herself down next to him, she tried to catch Schofield's eye but, hidden behind silver lenses, he was fixed on a plane crawling impossibly slowly across the vast expanse of sky.

"Nothing," he said truthfully, without looking at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Following you," Mother said bluntly and watched as a smile cracked on Shane's face.

"Any particular reason why?" He replied.

"Yep," she said shortly, reaching into the deep pockets of her cargo pants and pulling out a handful of dog biscuits and a slightly crumpled letter. Dropping the biscuits on the ground, she stretched the letter out towards him and watched as his eyes flickered down and focused on his own name, neatly printed on the envelope below the marine crest.
"You saw this before you left this morning and then left without it anyway. I wanted to know why, so I took it and took off after you."

When he looked up at her, she saw he was laughing. Taking the envelope from her outstretched hands, he flipped it over and immediately noticed something unusual.

"It's open."

It was Mother's turn to stare at the ground, studiously avoiding Shane's gaze.
"Steam'll do that."

Schofield shook his head and chuckled to himself.
The words 'You'll never make it in the diplomatic corp Mother,' the rang through his head.
"Promise me something Mother," he said seriously, staring at the ground, "Don't ever change."

To her annoyance, he didn't read whatever missive that was contained in the already opened envelope. Holding on to it with one hand, the other returned to fiddling absentmindedly in the dirt beneath him.

"You're not even gonna read it?" Mother said exasperatedly.

"Nope," he replied shortly, "why bother when you can tell me what it says."

His fingers closed over a small smooth stone and he picked it up without even thinking about it. Running his thumb across it in small circles to feel every grain of dirt as he brushed it off, he suddenly raised his arm and flung the stone as hard as he could. Together, they watched it roll down the hill and disappear into the thick green grass.

"Where'd you go yesterday?" Mother asked, changing tack.

"To see Libby's parents," Schofield replied without taking his eyes from where the stone had landed.

"And? She prompted gently.

Shane couldn't think how to put it into words. How the great weight he'd been carrying in his chest had lifted just a little. How he felt he could mourn her in peace but still move on with his life. How her parents hadn't hated him. How he didn't have to hate himself any more.

"It was good," was all he said in the end.

"Closure?" Mother supplied gently and Shane was both surprised that she knew the word and that she had captured it so easily and yet so perfectly.

"Yeah," he nodded, "closure."

He turned to her and smiled as she heaved herself to her feet and, dropping a kiss on the top of his head, said, "Scarecrow, read the damn letter."

And she left as he chuckled to himself. Flipping the envelope over again, he stared long and hard at his name for several minutes before reluctantly pulling out the neatly folded letter inside and beginning to read.

Half an hour later, he was rushing to the district personnel office to speak to the colonel in charge. When he got there however, to his shock, he found Mother leaning casually up against the wall, waiting for him.

"Mother?" he said, "How did you know…"
… that he would read it?
… that he would come straight here?
… that despite everything, he still wanted this?

Schofield himself wasn't quite sure which question he was asking.
Maybe it was all of them.

Either way, Mother just shrugged her shoulders at him.
"I always know," she said with a grin.

He looked at the building behind her.
"You're coming with me?"

"Always," she replied.

A/N: Not actually the end anymore, I decided to split this chapter into this one very short scene and the longer one in the chapter to come because they're quite separate scenes really.