Ice's Dogtags Are Another Matter. Sarah Is Already In The Picture But She Is A Civilian And She Isn't

Ice's dogtags are another matter. Sarah is already in the picture but she is a civilian and she isn't Maverick so the first time they diagnosed him with cancer he doesn't even think too much about it. He's barley forty-five, the chemio is going to take time and with no assurance it's going to work and Maverick is squishing his hand so hard it's almost feels like it's going to break. It doesn't and Maverick doesn't let go.

After the first cycle of therapy Ice is just too tired and he feels like crying and he can't and he wants to fly one more time, with Slider, with Maverick, alone up there in the sky, as fast as he can because maybe, maybe if he flies fast enough all of this is going to a memory. But he can barley leave his bed on good days, let alone fly. He puts his dogtags in Mavericks hand one a Thursday night, just a couple of hours before his deployment in Iraq and Mav kisses him on his forehead and his lips. It all sounds and taste like the goodbye he never wanted to exchange with this man.

Maverick wears them around his neck, along with Goose's at the beginning, and then just them when he gives Goose's to Bradley. He never stops wearing them: not when Ice goes in remission, not when he's on a mission and then testing planes that go so fast he can barley explain the sensation of flying them, not when cancer comes back and takes away Ice's voice once and for all. He wears them and touch them everytime he misses Ice. It happens a lot, it will always happen a lot.