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Charlie takes a deep breath. No time like the present.
“I’m pregnant.”
Mav chokes on his drink.
They met up in a little dive bar away from the hustle and bustle of downtown San Diego. Quiet enough that no one they knew would wander in. Gossip spread like wildfire in the base. The last thing they needed was this coming out.
Mav was sipping on an old-fashioned he’d ordered and Charlie had a virgin Mojito because… you know. Well, Charlie knew, Mav didn't, which was why she came all the way back from DC to visit.
Charlie twirled her straw, growing more nervous by the second as Mav looked at her expectantly. She was the one to call him up, let him know she was in town, and asked him to see her.
She took a deep breath. No time like the present.
“I’m pregnant.”
Mav chokes on his drink. He looks her straight in the eye.
She’s dead serious.
“And it's…”, he hesitantly pointed to himself.
Charlie nods and inhales. “Yes. It’s the only thing that fits with the time frame,” she briskly explains, as if she was giving out mission parameters.
Mav gently set his glass down like it was a bomb, “What do you want to do about it?”
“Well, I’ll tell you what I don’t want to do: I don’t want to raise it. I never wanted to be a mother. This doesn’t change that. If you want to, that’s great, but I just don’t have the time, energy, and honestly motivation to care for another being on that level.”
Mav looked down at his drink.
“And what if I do?”
“What?”
“Want to raise it.”
Charlie sighed. “Well, then we’ll figure it out. I don’t mind carrying it for a couple months more. I just don’t want to have to take care of it for the rest of my life. I don’t want to be involved afterwards. Just like a surrogate or something. So, you seriously want to?”
When he heads back to base for a moment he’s so relieved that he decided to take up teaching at Top Gun, at least for the time being. Raising a baby is hard enough, at least he knew he would be staying in one place for another.
He walks into the Instructors' Office, still a little dazed.
Ice was leaned back at his desk, idly reading a book. He looked up at hearing Mav’s footsteps.
He raised an eyebrow, “You look rough. How’d your little date go?”
Maverick gave a chuckle of disbelief, “I’m going to be a father.”
The book toppled out of Ice’s hands as his eyes grew wide. He looked Maverick dead in the eye. He didn’t break out in laughter or shout “Gotcha!”. They both knew this wasn’t a joke.
Ice lowered his gaze, “So… you and Blackwood are getting married?”
“No.”
Ice raised an eyebrow, “Yeah but you’ll be moving in together or something right?”
“No,” said Maverick slowly, like he was explaining something to a child. “We’re not moving in or getting back together.”
“Then what are you doing?” Ice asked with genuine confusion.
“Well, Charlie doesn’t want to have to raise a child. I do. So, we found a mutually beneficial solution. If I want her to keep it, then I’ll take care of them once they're born. And Charlie will go back to her life in DC. Though I have an open pass to call her up if I ever need to ask any questions about her family’s medical history or err… feminine matters if it’s a girl.”
“Do you or she have to pay child support or something?”
“No, we decided it would just complicate things. I’ll have full custody. The only thing I made sure she promised was that, if someday in the future when the kid’s all grown up, if they choose to seek her out, she’ll be kind to them. I don’t want to force her to be a part of their life. She may not want that then, and she certainly doesn’t want it right now. I just need her not to slam the door in their face.”
“So you're going to raise them by yourself?”
“I mean. I’ll have Carole’s help when she comes to visit here and there, but essentially yeah. I’ll be parenting them alone.”
Ice frowned, “No you won’t.”
Mav gave him a look, “What do you mean?”
“You’ve got me,” Ice said like it was a given fact of life: water was wet, fire was hot, and Mav had him.
“No Ice,” Mav said with a sigh. “I can’t possibly ask you, you’re busy enough as is.”
“So are you,” Ice responded. He was right. They taught the same classes, had the same time commitment, same position. “At least this way the workload is spread between two people.”
“But why? Why help me?
Ice paused for a moment thinking. He smirked, but it was an empty one, nothing like the genuinely cocky ones he’d always flash at him back in training.
“I can’t leave my wingman hanging, can I? I told you back on Enterprise 'anytime', and that includes now.”
Something in Maverick told him that Ice wasn’t telling him the whole truth, but as he looked into his friend’s eyes he knew that, whatever he was hiding, he had no malicious intent.
They’re driving back to the base together from one of Charlie’s doctor’s appointments in Ice’s car. Once again, Mav is grateful that Ice has committed to helping him like this. Yeah, he likes having his moral support, and extra hands, and unlimited babysitting offers, but this, this was tangible. He loved his bike, but there was a snowball’s chance in hell he’d be bringing the baby home from the hospital on that.
Elbow resting on the window, he asks “Do you have any names in mind? If it’s a girl?”
Ice gives him a quick glance before returning his gaze to the road, “Just if it's a girl?”
“Well, I have an idea for a boy.”
“You do?”
“Nick.”
“Ah.” Of course.
“And while I love Goose, I think wherever he is he understands that ‘Nikola’ just doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. Maybe as a middle name. So, anybody you want to remember?”
Ice thinks about it for a moment.
“Well, you know how my dad’s side of the family has been here since the start of the century?”
Mav’s eyes glowed with curiosity. Ice had never talked about his family before, even after agreeing to help him with this whole journey.
“Oh?” he remarked, trying to (and doing a pretty shit job of) keeping his tone neutral. (Hey, he wasn't the brother in covert ops!)
“Yeah, they were out of Europe before either of the wars and the rest. My mom wasn’t as lucky.” Ice looked far off into the road’s distance. “She and her family were sent to… one of the camps. Her mother had already died when they were in the ghetto. She was separated from her father pretty early on. Never saw him again. She was with her older sister Lorelei for a while. She always tried to protect her and gave my mom some of what little portions she got. But then she got sick. Very sick.” He took a breath. “After the war, the only relative my mom could track down was an uncle and his family that had moved to the US long ago. So she followed them. Alone.”
Mav looked at Ice softly. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the man be this vulnerable before. This confession was something special, he knew he oughtn’t treat it lightly.
“Lorelei sounds like a beautiful name.”
“Ok. Be honest with me. So why did you decide to help me out with all this?” Mav asked while they’re shopping for a bassinet.
“I didn’t want to see you struggle alone,” Ice responded genuinely.
“But come on. There’s got to be more than that. That’s reason to help a friend. Not raise a child with them. So what is it? Why?”
Ice knew he wouldn’t tell Mav the truth because the truth was that he knew he could never be with him the way he wanted. It just wasn't going to happen. So, he would take whatever other forms of closeness he could get with Mav. Of course, he couldn’t just say I’m in love with you, but know that will never happen so I figured raising a baby with you was the next best thing.
Instead, he opts for a different truth.
“I’m never gonna have kids on my own, so I figured why not?”
“Oh,” Maverick says, awkward. “I’m sorry.”
Ice waves him off, “It’s fine.”
“Is it like a medical issue?” Mav asked, genuinely concerned.
Ice chuckles, “No, not anymore at least.” Not since 1973.
“Then…”
“I just know I’m never going to get married.”
“Really?” Mav responds, surprised. “You’re a good-looking guy, Ice. You’re saying you don’t have women throwing themselves at you?”
“Har har. I just want to focus on my career and never had the time or interest really to date.”
“But what if one day you meet the right person and it just… clicks?”
Ice sighed and gazed at Maverick with an unreadable look in his eye. “If that was going to happen, it already would’ve.”
Ice was in the waiting room. Being the father, Mav was allowed into the delivery room. Without any legal or biological ties, Ice had to wait.
After what felt like an eon, Mav came out.
“You can come see her,” he announced with a smile.
Her.
“What’s that?” Mav asked, indicating at the toy in Ice’s hand. A baby chicken.
“Oh,” Ice responded. “Um. Carole and Baby Goose came by earlier. Bradley wanted to give them— her this, but then things went past his bedtime so I was declared the courier. Seems he already has an honorary Bradshaw nickname chosen out.”
Mav smiled, “Cute. Now come on, let’s not leave her waiting.”
He led Ice down the hall, opening a room door to an exhausted, but amused-looking Charlie lying on a hospital bed. On her chest lay a tiny, pink thing.
“There you are,” she said. With a soft noise of exertion, she gently lifted her and handed her to him. Ice carefully placed her in the cradling position both he and Mav researched.
He looked at her face and was entranced. It was a pink, wrinkly thing, but to him it was perfect.
Somewhere off in the distance he could see the flash of a polaroid camera and Mav’s damn chuckle, but in that moment Ice didn’t care: not about the photo he probably looked ridiculous in, or what Mav thought about it, or anything else at all.
All he focused on was the tiny pink bundle in his arms.
For the longest, Ice thought his purpose in life was to fly. But now, he knew the truth: his purpose was to protect Lorelei (Nikola) Mitchell.
For the first time in what feels like ages, Maverick wakes up feeling totally refreshed to the light of the mid-morning sun.
He checks the calendar by his bed: Sunday. No work he’s late for.
Something feels different. It takes him a moment to place it: he got a full night of rest. No interruptions, not even a gurgle from the baby monitor…
Mav got an uneasy feeling in his stomach. What if while… He needed to check on Lorelei now.
In the end, he didn’t even need to open the nursery door before he got his answer.
As soon as he stepped out of his bedroom he was greeted by Ice’s voice.
“Thought I’d give you one night of proper sleep before your leave is up and you have to head back to instruction,” he said, sitting in one of the living room chairs. Lorelei lay in his arms peacefully, she always seemed to love Ice, who seemed to be half-asleep himself.
Mav sighed with relief, both at knowing Lorelei was well and that he’d gotten said sleep, “Thank you so much. God, I could kiss you right now.”
“Please do,” responded Ice, his eyes closed and now leaning far more to the sleep side of the term half-asleep.
Maverick paused. Ice’s tone was not one of a joke.
“Ice,” he asked cautiously. “Do you… want me to kiss you?”
Ice’s eyes flung open as he jolted fully awake, realizing what he said out loud.
“No! I mean–I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! Please!”
Mav had seen Ice in life-or-death situations before. He’d seen him stressed, he’d seen him urgent, he’d seen him angry. He’d never seen him panicked, at least so hysterically, unflappable persona brazenly abandoned. The man had begun to hyperventilate, on the verge of tears.
Maybe it was the change in breathing or the sudden conversation, or perhaps she just sensed something was wrong. Either way, somehow Lorelei had been disturbed and began crying. In an instant both men broke from the conversation to calm her down, the issue put aside for a moment for the common good.
It was only when she had stopped crying did they return to their discussion.
“Please,” Ice’s whispering voice cracked. “Please don’t report me. Please.”
It hurt Mav to see his friend like this. To see him so hurt, and vulnerable, and scared, so afraid… of him. He never wanted to see that sight again.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, Ice,” Maverick took Ice’s shaking hands. “I’d never report you. It would be wrong. Besides,” he bashfully looked into Ice’s eyes, “it would be hypocritical of me.”
Ice looked up in confusion before a look of realization slowly began to dawn on his face. Mav smiled and leaned in to kiss him.