Penny left the front door open, signaling to Maverick that he could come in.

A few moments later, Penny was behind the kitchen counter while Mav sat on a barstool, watching her cook their dinner. Maverick had spent the day doing some team-building with his students by playing dogfight football on the beach while Penny sat outside her bar, doing the finances for it. After, he gave Penny a ride home on his motorcycle. There was a companionable silence until Maverick broke it. "You and Amelia, you seem...A lot closer than when I last saw you." He observed as she chopped up potatoes. 

"Yeah. Yeah, we are."

"How do you manage?"

"Well, you know, she always wanted more freedom than I thought she was ready for."

"Hmm. Where'd she get that from, I wonder?"

"I guess I realized I also had to trust her. Let her make some of her own mistakes sometimes."

"Not an easy choice."

"Is that what happened with Rooster?"

"I pulled his papers from the Naval Academy. Took years off his career."

Penny turned away from the stove where she was cooking New England clam chowder and looked at him.

"Why?" She asked after a moment.

"His mother never wanted him to fly, not after what happened to Goose. She made me promise before she died, so..."

"Does Rooster know that?"

"He will always resent me for what I did. Why should he resent her too?"

"Not an easy choice."

"I was trying to be the father he lost. I just...I wish I would've done it better. But the truth is...I didn't think he was ready."

"Is he ready now?"

"He's a good pilot. But he thinks too much up there. He relies on the book too much. He needs to think less and just do more when he's up there.

But this mission is very dangerous. Even with the parameters I've set, he might never come home."