Clay stares up at the ceiling of the C-17. He isn't sure what woke him until he hears Sonny say softly, "Hey, Goldilocks. It's me."

Without looking over at the Texan, Clay smiles a little. It's been months since the last time he woke up panicked and confused about where he was and who was near him. His teammates, who learned during his recovery to always announce themselves if they were nearby when he woke up, have gradually stopped doing so as they've figured out that he no longer needs it.

All except Sonny. He still does it, every time. Clay doesn't have the heart to tell him it's not necessary.

"Hey." Clay's voice is rusty from sleep. "We landing soon?"

"Yep," Sonny drawls. "Just about time to go retrieve the nerds' magic computer."

In the aftermath of a chaotic evacuation, U.S. intelligence agents realized they'd accidentally left behind a laptop containing information that could be catastrophic in the wrong hands. Based on ISR data, Mandy believes the abandoned outpost is still secure for the moment, but that won't last long. Bravo needs to get there ASAP. They'll be coming in from the north, sneaking and/or fighting their way through the smallest possible section of enemy-occupied territory.

Once they're on the ground, they make good progress, with HAVOC using live ISR to help them avoid the heaviest concentrations of enemy fighters. A couple blocks from the target location, they reach an area that's got poor visibility and an uncomfortable number of tangos lurking in the shadows. Jason sends his snipers to provide overwatch, one to each side of the street.

The first time Hayes sent Clay off on his own, it made the entire team a little jumpy - even Jason, for all that he tried to hide it. They pushed through, because that's what they do, and now it's business as usual. Clay is a damn good sniper. History or no history, his team needs to be able to take advantage of that.

It was inevitable that trouble would eventually crop up again. Today just happens to be the day.

Once the area is cleared, Mandy reports that things should be calmer the rest of the way, so Jason calls his snipers down to rejoin the rest of the team.

Clay packs it up, makes it nearly halfway down the stairs, then freezes in place and silently backtracks up into the room he just left.

"Bravo One, this is Bravo Six," he breathes into the radio. "Got a situation. Building I'm in is no longer clear."

There's just the briefest of pauses before Hayes answers. "Copy, Bravo Six. Can you get out?"

"Negative. Too many. All downstairs for now."

Jason starts to respond, but before he can, Mandy cuts in to report that a group of tangos is rapidly approaching the target building from the south. Bravo needs to secure the laptop. Now.

Clay closes his eyes. He practices sniper breathing. He grounds himself, the way his therapist taught him. Then he says softly, "Go. I'll be fine."

Another brief hesitation before Jason asks, "You sure?"

"I'm good, boss. Only way up is the stairs, and that's a bottleneck. If they come at me, I'll handle it."

"Roger that, Bravo Six," Hayes says, and then he adds, "We'll be back for you in 20, 30 mikes. Hold tight."

"Copy."

Breathe in. Breathe out. Clay sits down, gun at the ready, and prepares to go out in a blaze of glory if it comes to that.

Sonny says, "Jace, we-"

Jason holds up his hand. "No."

"But I can-"

"Sonny. No. If Mandy's right, we're about to kick a hornet's nest, and I need all my shooters." Hayes finally actually looks at him. "Clay's got it. He'll be fine. We'll go back for him."

Sonny looks down, avoiding Jason's gaze. His mouth feels drier than Pecos dirt. He's not quite sure when or how the damn kid got this far under his skin, but it's over and done with now.

"Sonny." Jason reaches out, squeezes his arm until he looks back up. "Spenser can handle himself. We can trust him to do that. If we couldn't, if worrying about him kept us from doing our job, he wouldn't belong here. Right?"

Sonny draws a slow breath, lets it out just as slow. "Right."

"You got that?"

"I got it, boss."

You don't become a tier one operator without being good at compartmentalizing, so Sonny shoves everything away. He pretends this is just another of the missions they went on without Spenser before he was cleared for duty. Clay isn't here, so there's no reason to worry about him at all.

Things go pretty okay until they reach the target building. Their little delay cost them just enough time that they end up making it there only seconds before that group of tangos HAVOC warned them about, which means they barely get inside before all hell breaks loose.

The good part is that they're inside the building and the tangos are still outside. The bad part is that they're outnumbered and the enemy has some serious firepower. It takes some doing to hold them off while also simultaneously searching for the spooks' goddamn computer.

In the end, they do manage to find the stupid magic laptop and head for the exit without getting shot.

Conveniently, that's right about the time the DShK arrives.

Mandy gives them just enough warning that they hit the deck in time to avoid getting chewed up into piles of steaming body parts.

Sonny doesn't think about how they promised twenty minutes, and how this is looking to take significantly longer than that. He does not. He thinks about surviving, here, right now, because that's what he can control.

They wait for the DShK to be reloaded, except then it turns out the pause in firing was a goddamn bluff, and it's only uncannily good instincts that prevent Trent from getting cut in half when he heads out to throw a frag. He ends up pinned down and separated from the rest of the team - but he holds his own, and when the DShK finally actually does need to reload, he's in position to blow it to hell.

After that, it's just a matter of taking out the remaining fighters and making their way back to Bravo Six. Brock takes a bullet to the body armor, but it doesn't go through and he gets right back up and swears he's fine. He's breathless but steady on his feet, so Trent gives him a sharp nod and they get moving.

Once they reach the building where they left Spenser, Cerberus goes in first and the rest of Bravo follows. It doesn't take long to eliminate the six tangos who stood between Clay and escape. Of Spenser himself there is no sign, which hopefully indicates that he's still safely hidden upstairs.

In the sudden, ringing silence that follows the efficient shooting, Sonny starts to head for the stairs. Before he can make it more than a few steps in that direction, Clay pokes his head around the corner and grins his cockiest grin.

"Glad y'all could drop by," he drawls. "Took long enough. Y'all are getting slow in your old age."

If the kid is turning his 'insolent little shit' dial up to 11, then this little adventure definitely shook him up some.

Sonny reaches him first, takes him by the shoulders, looks into his eyes. "You good?"

Clay nods, holding Sonny's gaze. He lets the smirk drop, leaving his expression clear and calm. "I'm good. You?"

Sonny smiles. "'Course I am," he says, and means it. "Let's go home."

He bumps Clay's shoulder with his own, and together they walk out into the sunlight with their brothers beside them.

That's all, folks! Thanks for reading.

It turns out I need y'alls advice. I have two ideas for upcoming stories, and can't decide which I should write first, so I'm going to ask y'all if you have a preference which you'd like to read first.

Option 1 is titled "Far Removed." Summary: "With most of Bravo off on a boring escort mission, Mandy brings one member of the team along for a routine meeting with an asset. An unexpected coup soon leaves both groups fighting to stay alive." Would feature hurt everyone, badasses protecting each other, and Mandy the Good Idea Fairy attempting to navigate an extremely dangerous survival situation.

Option 2 is titled "Bring You Home." Summary: "On Clay's third mission back with Bravo, a fall from a bridge into a river leaves him and Ray injured and alone. While Clay struggles to keep himself and his brother alive, the rest of Bravo desperately tries to figure out how to rescue them from forbidden territory." Would be set post-season 2 and deal with the fallout from Clay's IED injuries.

Let me know which you prefer. Or if you don't have a preference, that's fine too. :)