Iceman was working on downing his fourth beer when Maverick brought a box into the living room area. Flamethrower wouldn't be back till later tonight, according to Iceman. Maverick sat the box down on the coffee table when she saw the picture of her, goose and Ghostrider. It made Maverick tear up and she had to pause for a second to try and recover herself. Maverick didn't want to ruin the moment. It was all still fresh in her mind. Including Goose's wife when she told Maverick how much Goose loved flying with her.

"Damnit.." Maverick mumbled and shook her head. She fell to her knees sobbing, hair hiding it all when Iceman heard the whole thing, pausing as he heard her say an explicative and then got up.

"Brett??" Iceman said and he knelt down, "Brett baby, what's wrong?"

"Goose.... God.. I got him killed... His son.. His son is without a father." Maverick said between gasps.

"Hey," Iceman said brushing Mavericks cheek, "Hey listen to me."

"I got Goose killed." Maverick blurted out.

"Maverick!" Iceman said sternly, trying to get her attention, to help her get out of that dark rabbit hole her mind was falling into, "Brett Johnson, now you listen here. It was not your fault. The board already proved that."

"I'm just as bad as the enemy...." Maverick whispered leaning into Iceman. He stiffened hearing how Maverick talked about herself and that angered him. Iceman got angry, he then remembered who he saw around the jets in the hanger, Slider and Sundown. Iceman always noticed how Sundown leered at Maverick, especially that night she was with him. It made him uncomfortable. Iceman knew he had to do something about this. Find out who tampered with the jet or something. He wanted Justice for Mav and Goose, just as much as Maverick wanted it.

"No your not." Iceman said, curbing the anger that bubbled over in his chest, "You've shown more empathy than any pilot I have ever seen before. You're not like the enemy at all Brett Johnson."

Maverick looked up hearing the tone in Icemans voice. Something was going on in that head of his and she knew it.

"What are you thinking Tom?" Maverick said.

"If we could just prove it was tampered with, that could help the investigation." Iceman said looking at Maverick. She nodded, seeing the intense look on Iceman's face. He was determined to figure this out himself.

"Son of a bitch.." Maverick hissed as she realized something. She got up grabbing her keys to the hangar.

"What?" Iceman said.

"Just follow me." Maverick said. Iceman nodded and took her hand walking out the door. He locked the door behind himself then jogged to catch up with Maverick. Iceman knew Maverick was on to something and he knew it could possibly blow her case wide open if they were right. Maverick fell in step with Iceman, determination in her steps as the whole court process went through her head. Something didn't feel right.

✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️

Maverick unlocked the hangar and pushed open the door walking into the wrecked F-14 Tomcat. She grimaced seeing the damage but knew she'd find something. Maverick unzipped the top half of her flight suit and rolled up her sleeves.

"Need some help??" Iceman asked Maverick.

"Yeah. Can you get the Mechanic chair for me??" Maverick asked Iceman.

"Of course love." Iceman said. He went to the tools area looking around till he found what Maverick needed. Iceman slid it to her as she reached into the dead blown J85 engine of the Tomcat.

"Ice!" Maverick called, "Tom! C'mere. I think I've found something!"

Iceman came over shaking his head seeing his girlfriends arm all up in this Tomcats engine and she pulled back.

"Son of a bitch!"

Iceman looked over at the piece of engine she held in her hand with a part on it that neither of them knew anything about in the manual,except Maverick. Maverick took a picture of it and sent it to Jester. She then laid it on the blue tarp under the mighty machine and used the mechanic chair to slide underneath the TomCat. Her gut feeling was getting stronger as she tinkered with the Tomcat and something fell out onto her chest.

"That fucking hurt." Maverick said and sat it on the tarp next to the part of the tampered engine. She began to find wires where there shouldn't have been any and traced them back to the engine as she stood under the Tomcat.

"This doesn't belong here at all."

"What?" Iceman said and moved Maverick over an he took a look. He reached up and pulled on the square electrical part till it came off an the wires came with it.

"What the actual F—-"

"Maverick? Iceman?" Said a familiar voice.

Iceman automatically grabbed Maverick and slid her behind him as he turned around ducking from under the Tomcat to see who it was. He motioned for Maverick to follow him.

"Sundown." Iceman said reappearing from under the TomCat with Maverick, "Thought you were partying with the boys."

"Your not supposed to be here." Sundown said.

Iceman held up the keys.

"We've got the keys." Iceman said.

"No.." Sundown said getting angry.

"You!" Maverick said.

"Mav!" Iceman said his hand behind him stopping her.

"You..." Iceman said narrowing his eyes, "You tampered with the engine. You made it die on Maverick!"

"You weren't supposed to know! It was supposed to be You!" Sundown said looking right at Iceman.

"What did I do to you Sundown? Really?" Iceman said stiffening, his back going completely straight as he held Maverick behind him. He knew it. His gut was right. Jealousy is a terrible thing. Mavericks eyes widened as a gun was pointed at Iceman.

"Ice!" She gasped covering her own mouth as tears streaked down her cheeks, her makeup from earlier running down her face.

"You always got everything. The girl. The winnings. Everything!" Sundown said.

"Calm down Sundown." Iceman said feeling Maverick press her body against his back.

"Think this through. Is shooting us going to help your case? Is it?"

"I don't care." Sundown said as the hammer clicked into place.

"No!" Maverick whimpered into Iceman's shoulder blade.

"It won't. You shoot us and your tried for murder by the Navy. They'll court martial you and it'll snowball from there. We have the proof." Iceman said as he felt Mavericks arms squeeze his waist out of fear. Not fear for herself, fear for him.

"No you don't!" Sundown said aiming and pulled the trigger. A cross between a whimper an scream came from Mavericks mouth when Iceman lunged at Sundown. Maverick was distraught as Iceman let out a pained grunt but pinned Sundown onto the ground fighting against him.

"You tried to kill Maverick!!!" Iceman said, shoving the blade of his hand against Sundowns chin and tipping his head back, limiting his vision. Sundowns hand shook as the gun fired and Iceman shouted. A bullet whizzed past Maverick so quickly she didn't know what happened. It buried itself into the engine behind her. She felt a thick hot liquid trickle down her cheek when Iceman finally got the upper hand over Sundown, knocking the gun out of his hand.

Maverick hit stop on the hidden tape recorder on the mechanic shelf. Then it hit her. She was bleeding and felt numb.

"Brett!" Iceman said running to her. He grabbed a rag and pressed it to her cheek, hand shaking.

"Look at me. Look at me darling. We got him. We got him."

"T-Tape recorder.." Maverick said and handed the cassette tape to Iceman.

"You smart bastard, you." Iceman said putting it in his pocket smiling at Maverick.