Chapter Text
“Watch the canopy!” Pete screamed. Horror washed over his face when the loud crack of his partner's neck filled his ears. Though he couldn’t see what was going on he understood far too well what had happened behind him. He frantically tried to turn around or at least glide towards Nick’s falling body but to no avail.
It felt like hours before Pete landed in the cold water below them, his clothes sticking to him in the nearly freezing water, as he violently thrashed around searching for his radar officer.
“Goose!”
The moment He saw the bright orange parachute and immediately began swimming towards it, he spotted Nick floating on top of it with water rushing over his body. Pete grabbed his shoulder and pulled him off the parachute and onto his chest, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him above the water.
“Oh no. No no no no no!” He cried, roughly shaking Nick in a desperate attempt to wake him up.
“Oh god no!”
Pete knew he was dead, but he didn’t want him to be. He knew that there was nothing he could do to bring him back however he kept yelling and crying for him to wake up, he kept hitting his arm and shaking his shoulders.
“Come on, talk to me, Goose!” Pete’s voice was shaky and he could feel tears streaming down his face, only to be washed away by the cold water. He grabbed Nick’s face and pressed it lightly against his, muffling his loud sobs with his neck and shoulder. His tears fell onto Nick’s cheek, mixing with his still-warm blood. His hand rested wrapped around his jaw, his thumb resting on his lips.
“Goose…” His voice softened. He leaned in and planted a small kiss on his cheek, tasting the blood on his tongue and lips.
“You can’t leave me Goose… You can’t leave Carole, or Bradley either! Come on Goose!”
Pete felt the helicopter overhead lowering itself, the rush of air causing the water to ripple and push them away. Holding on even tighter to his partner, he looked over to see a paramedic swimming towards them. He could barely register what was happening though, the image of someone swimming through the ocean to rescue him and his dead RIO hadn’t been processed. The entire scene was surreal, and not just because it didn’t feel real, Pete didn’t feel like himself, it didn’t feel like he was the one holding Nick, and it didn’t feel like he was the one sobbing into his dead partner, or floating on the water to keep from drowning. Nothing felt real. Everything felt wrong, out of place, every atom he could see looked, felt incorrect.
“Please Goose…” He whimpered, lightly kissing his cheek. His tears had stopped, but Pete continued to quietly sob into his partner's face.
Before he knew it, the paramedic had arrived, yelling something that he could barely understand over the noise in his mind.
“Sir! You have to let go!”
The words echoed in his mind but never reached him. He didn’t want to let go, there was no reason to at this point.
He held his tight grip around his waist, avoiding eye contact with the paramedic.
“You have to let him go sir!” The man’s tone was more stern this time. Pete hesitated for a second, but slowly loosened his grip on Nick. The paramedic quickly pulled him away and swam back to the helicopter with his limp body. Pete watched, watching as they hauled his dead body away from him, he paused for a moment before desperately swimming after them.
Once the paramedic had successfully carried Nick into the helicopter, he jumped back into the water to rescue Pete. He got lifted up into the aircraft and sat down on one of the seats. He didn’t seem to care that he was sopping wet, or that he was shivering, barely able to feel his fingers. All he did was stare at Nick. He had no reaction to anything around him, not the paramedic draping a blanket over his shoulders, not the paramedics' questions that he was subconsciously answering, not the searing headache he had, not Nick’s blood on his face, not the voices around him trying to communicate, he only stared at his limp body, a paramedic was performing CPR as they flew, though Pete knew it was pointless.
Six minutes.
Six minutes until you’re dead beyond repair.
He flinched at the sound of Nick’s ribs cracking. He knew it was supposed to happen during CPR but he couldn’t bear the sound of it. It made him want to vomit. It made him feel sick to his stomach but he couldn’t look away, he couldn’t turn his back on his RIO, his partner that he killed. He could see into his eyes, his normally warm and loving gaze had turned into one of coldness, darkness, and hatred. Hatred for him. Hatred for Pete Mitchell. Hatred for Maverick.
—
“You know what I’ve always wanted to do, Pete?”
“What’s that Goose?”
Nick rolled his eyes at the nickname before continuing.
“Go in a helicopter! I don’t know why they just look so cool!”
“Oh my god really? Me too! "
“They just- they look so awesome!”
“We gotta ride in one together sometime!”
“Holy crap that’d be so cool! We have to!”
—
Pete was caught in the piercing stare of his dead partner.
“Goose.” He whispered, his voice cracked but he barely raised it.
“We finally did it, Goose.”
He felt a tear run down his face. Quickly, he lowered his head to hide his face before wiping it away, though he never broke eye contact. His deceased body shook as the paramedic continued chest compressions, followed by a rescue breath here and there. Pete knew this was futile.
Nick Bradshaw is dead, there is nothing he can do to change that.
Though in the back of his mind he hoped it would work, he hoped that some miracle would take place, maybe an angel or just dumb luck, he didn’t care what the miracle was, all he wanted was for his partner to come back. He was fully aware it wasn’t going to happen, it would be impossible, but still, the little irrational voice in the back of his head was begging, pleading, to have Nick back. He wished none of this had happened, he wanted to go back to the way things were, he wanted to go home.
“Shit.” His voice broke and he spoke at full volume this time, tears streaming down his face, mixing with the smeared blood of his partner. This caught the attention of one of the paramedics, he turned his head around before looking back at Nick. He quickly repeated his actions and wiped the tears from his face.