It didn't usually take much to catch the attention of Mandy Ellis. The Central Intelligence Agency had taught her many different tactics over the years, but one of the most important was situation awareness. Her head was constantly on a swivel, taking in as much information about her surroundings as possible. She picked up on everything from multiple exit strategies to accurately reading body language in a matter of seconds everywhere she went. Those skills were never needed when she was on base with Bravo team, but sometimes she just couldn't help herself, it came naturally.

It had been four days since Mandy had last seen the team, but today on base was nothing special, just a quick update on a new potential target the CIA was tracking. They were hitting some brick walls getting the op green lit, but every new piece of information about the target required a briefing, just in case the brass suddenly decided to approve the spin up.

Mandy stood at the front of the room, as per usual, and watched the team roll in, mentally surveying each one of them. There were only occasional triggers that she picked up on; dark circles under Ray's eyes, showing exhaustion from being up with the baby all night, or a missed speck of glitter on the cheek of Sonny or Clay after night at the local gentlemen's club. Everyone had stressors in their lives and Mandy hadn't yet found herself concerned with any of these because it never affected the team, until today. Today something was off.

Out of every member on Bravo Team, only one person could keep their shit together and remain level headed regularly, and that was Lisa Davis. Calm under pressure and beyond exceptional at her job, Davis was a rock and usually hard to read, except for now. She hadn't actually said nor done anything yet, but her clenched jaw and blank stare were telltale signs of some deep anger working its way out. Davis walked around to the far side of the team room table and took her usual seat, leaning back and crossing her arms as she waited for the brief to begin.

Mandy observed Davis for a few more moments as the rest of the team made their way into the room.

Jason. Nothing.

Ray. Nothing.

Blackburn. Nothing.

Sonny. Boom. There it was.

The moment Sonny entered the doorway Davis flinched, then tensed up, only noticeable to Mandy who had a sharp eye on her. Davis grabbed hold of her chair and shifted it about six inches to the right, leaving a larger than normal gap between her and the only empty chair left, the one just to her left. The chair that Sonny was heading for at that very moment. He pulled out the chair, sat down, and stared into the briefing dossier on the table in front of him, not acknowledging Davis at all. The usual playful banter between the two had been replaced with a heated tension.

'This is not good', Mandy worried to herself, trying to recall the last interaction she'd seen between Sonny and Davis.

It was about a week ago, shortly after the team returned from their joint operation with SAS in Qatar. Everyone was still coming down from the adrenaline high of the mission. It was big win, with a lot of saved lives, and, when time permitted, the team always took a few days to wind down before the next op. Mandy had come by for the first briefing on this new target and saw the pair having a seemingly friendly chat in the hall outside of the team room. The casual moments always stood out a little more because Mandy being around means there's work to do and everyone's focus is directed towards getting the job done.

At the time, everything appeared normal, the interaction was minimal, just a few laughs between co-workers, but Mandy was digging a little deeper into her flashback. She tried to remember every detail, hoping that this memory might reveal something. She couldn't recall hearing any of the conversation, so she focused on reading the body language. Sonny was on one side of the hallway, a few inches from the wall, telling Davis a story, acting it out as he spoke, arms flailing about. Davis laughed out loud, tilting her head and arching her back, forcing her chest to stick out in Sonny's direction. As her laughter subsided she looked directly at Sonny, pressed her back against the wall, then raised her right leg and propped the bottom of her foot against wall. They held each other's gaze for a moment before Davis spoke, then turned in unison and walked down to where Mandy was standing outside of the team room.

"Ma'am," Sonny said and nodded to Mandy as they passed her to enter the room.

Sonny stopped to let Davis go in first. He reached his hand up to the small of back to guide her through the door, never actually touching her, but seeing the gesture was powerful enough to kick Mandy back to reality.

'Son of a bitch,' she thought, 'they're sleeping together.'