The beach day was exactly what everyone needed. The team was just that, a team. Now functioning well together with few mishaps here and there. Unfortunately, one big mishap was about to happen, to the fault of no one but fate itself. 

"Talk to me Bob," Phoenix calls back to her WSO. 

"We're 12 seconds late on target, we gotta move, we gotta move!" he replies. 

Coyote nods to himself before replaying, "Copy, try and stay with me." 

"Uh, wait who's that?" Bob asks after seeing a boogie appear on his radar. 

"Blue team you've been spotted," Maverick says over the radio. 

Coyote curses, "Shit it's Maverick." 

"What the hell is he doing here?" Phoenix questions. 

"I'm a bandit on course to intercept, Blue Team, what are you gonna do?" Maverick asks. 

Bob keeps his team informed."He's 12 miles left, 10 o'clock and closing." 

"Your call, what do you want to do?" Coyote asks Phoenix, as she was team leader for this particular exercise. 

"Continue, we're close," she says. "Stay on target." She was determined to finish this run, knowing they could pull it off, even with Maverick running interference. 

"He's swinging around to the north," Bob relays. 

"Stay ready for the pop up," Coyote advises. 

"Be ready with my laser Bob!" Phoenix tells him. "Copy I'm on it," he responds. 

But Maverick was still in the sky. "Blue team, Bandit is still closing." 

"Popping up," Coyote says as he pops his plane up. 

"Talk to me Bob, where's the bandit?" Coyote askes. 

"He's 5 miles out, he's coming fast," Bob responded. 

"Targets in sight," Phoenix confirms. 

"Where's my laser Bob?!" Coyote asks. 

"Dead eye, dead eye! It's no good, sorry I can't get a lock." Bob calls out. There was nothing he could do, the technology wouldn't calibrate. 

"We're out of time, I'm dropping blind," Coyote says. He sends the missile. "Damn it! Miss!" 

They start the steep climb out of the canyon, but Coyote starts to fade in and out. 

"That's tone," Maverick says as he locks onto Bob and Phoenix. "Shit we're dead," Phoenix says. 

"Blue team, that's a fail," Maverick informs them. "Level out Coyote." But Coyote doesn't respond. 

Maverick calls to him. "Coyote, talk to me." He tries again. "Coyote come in! Coyote level wings." 

Still nothing. 

"Oh my god he's in GLOC," Maverick realizes. "Coyote, Coyote!" 

"He's gonna burn in!" Phoenix worries. No matter what, they were all still friends. 

"I'm going after him," Maverick says, punching his speed. "Come on, give me tone, give me tone, give me tone." 

He gets a lock on Coyote, using the sound to wake him out of GLOC. "Snap out of it Coyote, come on come on. Break right, break right!" 

Coyote wakes up just in time to steer away from the mountain. 

"There we go kid, you ok?" Maverick asks him. 

"Yeah I'm ok," he replies. "I'm good." 

"Good, good. That's enough for today," Maverick releases a breath. 

Phoenix also lets out a breath. "That was close," she says as she flies up to Maverick's wing.  

"Too close," Maverick agrees. 

And then, all hell breaks loose. 

"Bird strike, bird strike!!!" Maverick yells. Phoenix and Bob pull away, but it's too late. 

"Phoenix, left engines on fire!" Bob exclaims. "Climbing!" she responds. "Shutting off fuel to left engine, pushing fire." 

"Right engines out!" Bob calls out. They are still spinning, trying to restart engine. 

Maverick tries to warn her of something she can't see. "Phoenix it's on fire!"

"Oh god, we're on fire!" Bob yells out, at the same time.  

"Igniting engine," Phoenix tries to remain calm. She was trained for this situation. 

"Phoenix, Bob punch out! Punch out!" Maverick yells. He refuses to loose someone else to a training exercise. Out in the field, he's accepted that sometimes he can't do anything. But in training, no. He will not have a repeat of Goose. 

Bob is looking at all of the system monitors. "Hydraulic failure," Bob informs Phoenix, watching as every light in the jet comes on. 

"I can't control it!" Phoenix calls to him. "We're going down!" 

"You can't shake it, eject, eject," Maverick insists, not wanting to lose anyone else like this. 

"Eject, eject, eject," Phoenix says as she and Bob grab their ejection handles. They manage to eject just before the plane crashes. 

The last thought Bob has is along the lines of, 'If I survive this, Malina is gonna kill me!'

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

Malina got the call at home and she raced to the hospital. She was happy enough she had already gotten the dogs' food situated, but that was honestly the furthest from her mind. 

She all but sped there, glad she didn't get pulled over. She calmed her breathing as much as she could before going to the front desk. 

"I'm here to see Lieutenant Robert Floyd. He was just brought in to be checked after an ejection during training. I'm his wife, Malina Floyd. Um, here's my ID." Malina practically stumbles over her words, having not calmed herself down nearly as much as she thought. She almost dropped her purse, trying to get her ID out. But the nurse at the desk has seen many family members like this, so she knew exactly what to do to keep Malina calm. 

As the nurse could see Malina's hands shaking, she quickly grabbed the one closest to her. "He was processed about 20 minutes ago. It'll be another 10 to 15 until I can get you back to see him. For now, take a deep breath for me. Let it out slowly. From what I see in the initial report, it's all superficial and nothing serious." 

Malina nods along with her words. She does take a deep breath before taking a seat in the waiting room. Once she is able to think a bit clearer, she grabs her phone. 

Thinking of the dogs, she sends a text to Carter, who had been out when she got the call. Informing him of the basics, she tells him she will update when she knows more. But asks him to take the dogs out when he gets back to the house. 

Carter quickly texts back telling Malina not to worry about anything, he'll take care of it all. And telling her to breathe, knowing she will work herself into a tizzy if she doesn't. 

Even though it felt like forever, only 15 minutes after she arrived, Malina was taken back to the room Bob was in. And as soon as she saw her husband, she all but ran to his side. Mindful of any machines he had hooked up, she hugged Bob with all she had. 

This was the closest call they had ever had, even with other missions Bob had been sent on over the years they've been together. And if this training exercise is any indication, this particular mission is gonna put stress on the couple like never before. 

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" We're the first questions Malina asked. Bob was quick to assure her he felt fine, just still a bit in shock from the landing. 

The doctor comes in, noting Malina's presence. "Am I right to assume you are Mrs. Floyd?" 

Malina nods, "yes, that's me. What's the verdict?" 

The doctor nodded, getting right to business. "All appears well. Nothing is broken, no severe bruising, no head injuries. The force of ejection will cause some initial shortness of breath and some pain, but that will go away within 24 hours. If it doesn't, come back immediately, so we can run some more tests. But I don't believe any complications will come. We will be keeping you overnight, for observation to be on the safe side. If you need anything, please press the button and a nurse will be in shortly." 

Bob and Malina thanked the doctor before he left the room. 

Bob could still see the absolute stress on Malina's face. "I'm okay. I promise. I know this was a scare, it definitely was and still is for me too. But I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." 

Malina presses a kiss to his forehead. "I know. I see you, but my brain just needs a little more time." And then she makes the connection. "Is Natasha okay? I didn't even think of her. She's your pilot, was her emergency contact called? Is someone here with her? Where's her room?" 

And once again, Mal is stumbling over her words, but this Bob is used to. "Phoenix is okay. She's just down the hall, three rooms down I believe. She's the same as me, from what I was told. As to everything else, I have no idea. That you will have to ask her yourself." 

Mal lets out another breath, deciding she will go see Natasha in a few minutes. Right now, she is simply basking in her husband's presence. "Oh, let me call Carter. He's taking care of the dogs for us." 

And as Bob talks with Carter, letting him know he's okay and what the doctor said, Malina slips out to go see Natasha. 

Let's just say, Phoenix was surprised when she walked into her room. 

"I wanted to check on you as well. I didn't know if your emergency contact is anywhere close by, and you shouldn't be alone after something like this." 

Natasha shakes her head. "No, my girlfriend doesn't live in the state, so she's pretty far out. Thanks for checking on me though. I didn't expect it." 

Mal grabs her hand. "I'm just glad both of you are alright. And I hope you're not blaming yourself. Bob told me it was a bird strike. A freak accident. You did everything you could to save it, but I'm just glad you both made it out safely. And with minimal injuries." 

Natasha tightens her hold on Malina's hand. She had been blaming herself, even if she knew there was nothing she could have done. Birds are always a risk to any pilot, regardless of the plane. 

The two women sit in silence for a few minutes before a nurse comes in with food for Natasha. "I'd better let you eat and get back to Bob. Again, I'm glad you're okay, Natasha. Feel better." 

And with that, Malina makes her way back to her husband's side, sitting with him as he eats dinner. All too soon, visiting hours are up and Bob has to all but force Malina to go home for the night. "They said I'll be out by tomorrow afternoon, at the latest. Give the dogs a squeeze for me." 

So Malina makes it home and does as Bob requested, hugging both the dogs before sitting down herself. 

And finally, she lets the weight of the day hit her. Carter comes over and holds her as she lets all those emotions spill over, giving her some of his own strength. 

✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

Word count: 1,820

A pretty heavy chapter, but that's what I imagine it's like when you have a spouse in these roles. Malina would be freaking out if Bob was hurt and vise versa. I know I've been like this in the past when my parents have had incidents and needed the hospital. 

But please, even with the heaviness, we will be getting back to some fun next chapter, but be warned, there are still some sad topics left. (Cough, Reyna and Mari's entire storyline, cough)

See you next chapter, bye guys!!!