A/N: Completely unrelated to my other works. Set after S4, and warning there are slight mentions of/illusions to PTSD. So if that is a trigger for you, please don't read as I don't want to upset anyone's apple cart. To everyone else, please Enjoy and Happy New Year from Australia!

Fireworks

Miller woke up with a start at the sound of the first explosion. Disorientated and unaware of his true surroundings, he fell of his bed and crouched down on the floor. A cold sweat broke out across his body as his body dumped adrenaline into his system. Memories of hot embers flying in air, crippling pain and the scent of burning flesh and copper overwhelmed him and stripped all sense from him.

Several more explosions sounded and he pressed his hands to his ears to block it out. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to calmly breathe through the panic and reminded himself. It was all over, it was in the past. He was home, he was in his apartment, not Rota, not some other country surrounded by an unseen enemy. He sucked in a shaky breath ignoring the tears as he remembered he was home. It was New Year's Eve.

He allowed it all to mentally sink in before he looked to the clock on his bedside table and read it was 9pm. The kid's fireworks as they would be in bed by the time it was midnight. He had taken a nap before he would set out to meet his friends for midnight. But right now, he wasn't sure he could do it. It was one thing to have a panic attack in one's bedroom but quite another to have in front of friends.

He picked up his mobile ready to call Burk and beg out of the party when it rang showing Wolf's number.

"Hello." he said answering it.

"Mate, where are you? Azima has found you a harem of lovely ladies which I neeed you to distract while I you know... with a certain someone." Wolf slurred in a smug manner.

"I don't think I can." Miller told him.

"No, come out." Wolf said, it sounded like he was pouting and about to say more but soon the other end was filled with background noise and what sounded like Wolf and Azima arguing over who would get the phone. It was clear Azima won as she was on the line.

"Put on a collared shirt and pants. Do that sexy thing with your beautiful hair and get your cute backside down here." she ordered, she sounded sober but Miller knew from a past mistake that she could hold her liquor and hide her drunkardness well.

"I can't." Miller said, it felt it was easier to hide as there was at least a block of fire crackers and darkness between where he lived and the party.

"It's not good to be alone on New Year's Eve." Azima said in a quiet and serious manner.

"I don't think I can." he said, hoping she would catch a hint of despair in his tone and let him off the hook.

"We all struggle." Azima said in a soft manner that made him think she understood exactly what the problem was. "I know at this time of year the fireworks scare me, they are explosions of beauty and fire in the night sky. But I learnt it's best to see them as you can prepare yourself for the beauty. I also learnt that you cannot hide from life." she said thoughtfully.

"I get what you're saying." Miller said with a sigh as he pulled himself off the floor.

"Good, now get dressed before I have to come over there and get you myself." She ordered, she hung up on him before he could say another world.

15 minutes later,

"Miller's here!" Azima shouted loud enough for the drunken crowd to cheer his arrival. He weirdly felt warmed and welcome to the party even though he was late. It made him glad that he braved the cold and the triggers to get to the party as Azima was right, it was good to be surrounded by others.

"Hey!" his friends called out, they came over, in no time Miller's jacket was gone and he had a beer in hand as Azima fluffed around him with her usual flair.

"Look at you, all good looking and smart." Azima said as she straightened out his collar and ripped his shirt open. He was glad he opted for stud button shirt as the buttons snapped open with ease. There was no flying buttons tonight and he was wearing a t-shirt underneath much to Azima's disappointment.

"Two things I would not call Miller. Azima, let another woman strip him." Burk quipped as he and the other men looked at him with empathy. It was clear that Azima had tried to turn the party into a Navy Chippendale event and failed given the amount of T-shirts being worn around the room. Though Miller had a feeling they were borrowed as Wolf's T-shirt did was way too tight and his shirt which he wore over the top was missing some buttons.

"You wouldn't know good taste if it bit you on your ass, Mate." Wolf quipped.

"Which explains why he's still single." Azima added, Burk flashed a smarmy smile and his middle finger to the couple.

"I'm particular." he told them.

"Picky to the detriment of your sex life. Come on, Miller. I want you to meet Giselle, she loves Redheaded men." Azima said, she didn't bother to wait for his answer as she grabbed the front of his open shirt and pulled him with her.

Danny and Kara had been dead asleep, it was so good to actually sleep in the same bed together after months of being apart. But sadly it didn't last long as one of the local kids set off a bunch of crackers in the street. The cracks and pops set off which made both of them wake with a start and Frankie scream at the top of his lungs.

Danny scrubbed a hand down his face as he turned on a light and calmed his violently beating heart. Kara looked as shell shocked as he felt. They knew the sound of gunfire and that crackers were a slightly different noise but it didn't stop the heart from pumping faster and their brain twigging that there was trouble. Hell, firecrackers were trouble in their own right. But Danny would take fireworks over gunfire any day of the week.

He gave a tired picked up his clock that read quarter to midnight. He and Kara had been so close to sleeping eight hours straight which would've been a record. He snorted a laugh at how old it made him feel that he opted for sleep over partying. But the Nathan James crew had been celebrating a lot lately so he and Kara had begged out for the evening party. If it hadn't been the thirteenth celebration in the last fortnight, he and Kara would've happily taken Frankie to the party but the family of three had been too tired and Frankie was too young to stay up and watch the 9pm fireworks or really understand New Year's Eve.

So they welcomed the night in, but damned if they didn't hate every adult and kid with crackers and fireworks that lived within a mile of their house.

"I hate crackers." Kara mumbled as she got out of bed and peeked out the window. She turned back to him with a face of disgust. "Teenagers again. One day, I'm going to take their wheels and set fire to their skateboards." Kara grumbled, Danny smiled as he knew which kids she was talking about. "I'll get Frankie." she said as their child was still screaming his head off in his room which had Halsey barking as he was getting annoyed by all the noise. Or to Kara, it felt like he was telling her that she and Danny's response time for Frankie crying was not fast enough. Either way, it was too noisy.

"Meet you in the lounge room. I'll put on a movie, so Frankie can fall asleep without the midnight fireworks and whatever the neighbourhood has in store; scaring him." Danny said, he and Kara's heart broke for Frankie as he had been on the base in Rota during the siege. While he hadn't been in the line of fire, he had heard the noises and sensed the danger and fear of everyone around him to understand it was not a happy event. That loud popping noises were not a good sound.

Kara nodded as she left their room and headed straight into Frankie's room. He stood up in his cot, tears streaming down his face while Halsey poked his head through the bars nudging Frankie as if trying to comfort him.

"Oh, it's ok. It's just fire crackers. Nothing to be scared of." Kara assured her baby boy as she lifted him into her arms and cradled him close letting him cry. "You're ok." she told him in a kind voice while she did mentally plot her revenge. She knew she wouldn't do it, but it felt good to think of getting retribution on the teenagers who woke her son and made him cry.

"Scary." Frankie said sadly as he gripped her tightly and buried his face in her neck.

"I know, but you're very brave to call for help. So why don't we distract ourselves with a movie?" she asked him.

"Kay," Frankie replied, she pulled his blanket out the cot and walked out the bedroom down the hallway to the lounge room. Halsey followed behind them and went straight to the floor by the lounge and laid down. Danny was scratching his head at the DVD collection. He hadn't even bothered to put on a shirt as he stood in barefoot in his pyjamas looking half asleep and unmotivated.

"Dragons or Nemo?" Kara asked Frankie as she sat down on the lounge with him.

"Nemo." Frankie replied sulking now as he clearly realised he was being lavished with attention and family time. Danny tossed in the DVD and sat down next to them on the lounge. The movie started rolling and Frankie crawled from Kara's lap into Danny's and used his Dad like a chair as he sat upright and leaned against his father's chest.

Danny wrapped one arm around Frankie's middle, while his other draped over Kara's shoulders. They shared a smile as it might be bad circumstance for them all to be awake but it was so good to be together without the fate of the world on their shoulders.

"I'm starting to feel a little jealous and ignored here." Wolf said to Azima as he wrapped his arms around her middle pulled her back into his chest, close and kissed the curve of her neck.

"I just watching Miller. Something is off with him." Azima told him, Wolf looked over at Miller who was laughing and smiling as it was clear Gisele was interested and flirting madly.

It looked like a fairly normal scene but he understood what Azima was seeing. She wasn't speaking of just tonight but of the past couple months since their return. Miller was paler than usual, he was a little more withdrawn of late and cracking jokes whenever anyone tried to talk about what could be bothering him. As it was clear something was eating at Miller. But Wolf decided to give the man the respect of space and took the approach of keeping an eye on the young man and made sure not to miss the true warning signs.

"He's fine." Wolf said, but he knew it wasn't true. The last deployment had been rough on them all. They all came out with scars. Some were physical while others were entrenched in their psyche and not so easy to deal with. It wasn't like one could rub Emu oil into the early signs of PTSD and have it fade after a few months.

"If you say so." Azima said diplomatically as she turned in his arms and faced him.

"He knows we're all here for him and vice versa. We all just need time and space to deal with it in our own way." Wolf assured her.

"You're a very good friend but sometimes you are a little blind to what's in front of you." Azima said as she playfully tugged on his shirt and gave a sardonic smile.

"Can we not argue this close to midnight? Miller looks happy, he's talking to a beautiful woman. For a man, it is more than enough to keep him happy and blues at bay." he told her with a grin, Azima looked thoughtful for a moment before she ducked her head.

"Fine, I'll save it for next year." Azima told him, Wolf snorted a laugh as people around them counted down from 10.

"You know, I love you right?" he asked her, Azima grinned as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You're drunk." she told him.

"I'm being serious." he told her, they looked at one another for a long moment completely unaware of anything but each other.

She rocked forward and pressed a long, close-mouthed but no less intense kiss to his mouth as people cheered 'Happy New Years!', fireworks exploded and soon people sang 'Auld Lang Syne'.

"I love you too." Azima shouted over the noise. Wolf grinned before stole a deeper kiss, not caring who was paying attention to them. His tongue swept in a deep and strong possession as his hands palmed her back to press her breasts against his solid chest. It felt oh, so good.

They both wanted more, luckily before they completely forgot they were in a crowded room. Their moment was broken when some random guy spilt cold beer on them. They drifted back into the real world, unperturbed by the disruption and beer covering them; they smiled at one another a little breathless.

"My place or yours?" Wolf asked.

"Mine, it's just upstairs." she reminded him, feeling lucky in love; she held out her hand to him. He took it, letting her take the lead.

Kara stirred at the sounds of fireworks as it didn't match the sound of Nemo. She had seen the movie so much that she could recite the entire movie word for word. She looked to Danny and found him watching her with a smile.

"That's a little creepy." she told him, Frankie was sprawled over their laps asleep with his blanket curled up in his arms. She didn't remember the pillow in her lap but there it was, just went to prove how sleep deprived she was. She gently brushed her fingers through Frankie's soft hair.

"I prefer looking at you and watching our son sleep than the trials and tribulations of Nemo and his father." Danny remarked in good humour. Kara chuckled quietly as watching Finding Nemo for the 87th time was not fun but Frankie loved it.

"He's pretty cute." Kara said with a soft smile.

"You're pretty cute too." Danny said, she snorted a laugh at the terrible line. He grinned as it was clearly the response he was looking for. She looked to him and shook her head.

"Don't smile at me like that." she told him.

"Like what?" he asked teasingly as he had the same boyish smile he wore all those years ago in the Arctic. He leaned in close looking for a kiss, but she teasingly kept her distance or at least tried.

"You know what that smile does to me. It's how we got Frankie." she reminded him with amusement; if she didn't have Frankie in her lap she would've climbed him like a tree but she tamped down on her hormones and desires. Reminding herself, a good parent put their child to bed and then climbed their husband like a wanton woman.

"And a lot of good times." he added, before he brushed his lips against hers. Kara gave a soft sigh and pulled away before they became too involved in the delicious tension between them.

"I really want to, but Frankie is going to wake up." Kara said speaking of the firecrackers and not Danny's sexual prowess.

"Portable DVD player in his room. He can keep sleeping to Nemo while we kick off the New year with some fun?" he offered as a solution.

"Perfect." Kara said with a smile.

"I know I am." He quipped and as he got off the lounge Kara pinched his ass. "Ow." he whispered at her incredulously as he rubbed his abused backside.

"Could use some work." she replied mockingly, Danny pretending to be insulted as he lifted Frankie up into his arms carefully not to disturb their sleeping child.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that." he promised her with a tone laden with sexual promise of mischief and fun.

"I look forward to it." Kara said with a salacious grin, they both raced as quickly as they could with a sleeping child. Placing him back into his crib and making sure the movie played loudly enough to block out the partying outside. Halsey laid down at the feet of Frankie's crib and promptly went to sleep before Danny partially closed the door.

He turned to Kara, pulled her into his arms; tight against his body. He gave a rumble of pleasure as he loved the feel of soft curves. "Happy New Year." he whispered to her as he'd forgotten to say it earlier on the lounge.

"Happy New Year." she replied in kind, she pushed up on her toes as he bent to kiss her. It was a gentle kiss, cherishing her mouth rather than claiming it. She made a soft sound of enjoyment and kissed him back, the languid stroke of her tongue against his stirring a familiar deep feelings inside as he loved this woman with every fibre of his being. Heat flared between them, soon the kiss became vibrant, hot and more passionate, "Bedroom, now." Kara ordered between kisses.

"Yes, Ma'am." Danny quipped, Kara chuckled in delight as he reached down to her luscious backside and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips before he carried them to their bedroom and gently kicked the door close.

The End.