(The Cost of Doing Business)

A/N: This is my first 'Seal Team' fanfic. If you have the time, please leave a review. Thank you.

I don't own Seal Team.

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"I don't care about my life."

His words sent a chill down her spine. Mandy had watched him slowly lose a sense of himself since they'd deployed. Alana had waited until Jason was ready to leave for Afghanistan before she had decided to tell them she was divorcing him. That had cut him deeply, but he had accepted it. Once he was deployed, he'd tried numerous times to call his children and he was never able to connect with them and his obsession with the betrayal of Echo team had worn him down. The helicopter crash and his injury had been one blow too many and Jason was determined to pretend that he was fine. He was not. "Well, I do."

"I blow his head off . . . Echo boys, they rest in peace."

She needed him to understand that murdering Alan Cutter wouldn't get him the revenge he wanted. "But Jason, the people behind Cutter . . . the big money in Washington, London, Frankfort, Islamabad . . . The people who stand to gain from all of this war, they can't be stopped with a gun."

He was so tired of it all. Jason wanted someone to pay for the deaths of the six men of Echo Team. They needed to be revenged. "How? How?"

And it hit her just like that. She knew how. "Paul Mulwray . . . He's perfect."

Jason turned from the lap top and stared at Mandy. "He's not exactly on our side."

She knew that. She had used Paul when she'd leaked a false story to capture an assassin and he'd printed it. Paul had been angry and he had warned her that he would get a bit of personal revenge even if it was to bring Ray down for killing a boy to do it. He didn't care if the boy's death was an accident. Ray was the scapegoat for Mandy's betrayal and now she had a way to divert his attention. "This story is huge . . . Pulitzer Prize huge. He'll bring down Cutter and everyone attached to Xeon Tactical . . . everyone. Steve's notes and pictures, no one can make them disappear now. Cutter and his people won't be able to bribe or murder their way out of this . . . This will work, Jason. I promise."

He trusted Mandy. He trusted few people outside of Bravo Team, but Mandy was his friend and he trusted her. He would always trust her. "Alright . . . talk to Paul and if he's interested, give him everything . . . This had better work."

"Oh, it'll work." Mandy was so confident, she smiled. "Paul is hungry for a big story. He wants to get out from under the shadow of his father and this will certainly do that. Cutter thinks he got away with murder, but he didn't . . . not this time."

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They were home and Alana and the children were nowhere to be seen. His wife had sent Jason a quick email before he'd left for home that she and the kids were out of town and would be back in a week. That's all. Nothing from his kids, nothing at all.

Jason helped Mandy load her luggage in her car as well as his. "Alana is out of town . . . I guess . . . maybe she'll be back next week . . . I don't know."

Concerned, Mandy closed the trunk of her car and turned to face her friend. "Where are you going to stay? With Ray?"

"Ray? No not Ray . . . he . . . not Ray." Jason didn't know where he was supposed to be. Alana didn't want him home, his kids didn't care, Ray lied to him and he was still angry about that. "I don't know where I'm going."

His confusion was getting worse. Mandy knew that he'd been to see a doctor about his head, but she was worried. The confident take charge Jason was missing in action and she was afraid. "You can stay at my place . . . until you can find your own place. I have plenty of room."

Jason didn't know what to do. Should he accept? "I . . . Sure, thank you. It's just for a little while. I need my own place." His head hurt and it was so hard to think. Mandy's offer was sincere and he knew that she wouldn't mind. Not Mandy. Never Mandy. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." After they left the base, she drove towards her apartment with Jason sitting next to her. "Are you going to make a doctor's appointment?" She didn't want to push him, but there was something wrong. He didn't seem to be getting better. If anything the effects of his concussion seemed to be getting worse.

"I've been to a doctor." His life was shit. What could a doctor do about that? So many dead brothers. Echo team murdered. Nate dead. So many of his brothers had died since he had joined Bravo team and he remembered them all. It was his duty to remember them all. "I'm fine."

She knew that wasn't true. Not by a long shot, so she would have to keep an eye on him. The concussion had been serious, more serious than Jason was willing to admit. He was so busy being angry about Ray's betrayal that he didn't see he was doing the same thing Ray had done. "Alright . . . Once we get squared away we can go get lunch. How does that sound?"

"Tacos . . . Alana and I go to this great taco place with the kids . . . Alana loves it." His wife didn't want him anymore, but he wanted her. He had been in love with her since he was a sophomore in high school. She had been a junior, but she had noticed him. Yeah, almost drowning in a rock quarry is a great way to get someone to notice you. "You'll like them." Damn he wished his head would quit hurting. "The kids like them."

"Okay, we'll go there. Sounds good." If he didn't get better in the next few days, she was going to find a way to get a doctor to see him, even if it meant kidnapping him. She could probably get Sonny and Clay to help her.

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Once his luggage was in the spare bedroom, Jason removed his shoes and lay down on the bed. His headache was starting to annoy him more than anything and it was interfering with his ability to stay on track with a single thought. Memories were jumping in and out of his thoughts and he didn't seem to have control of them. Nate lying in the bottom of the boat, dead. His blood pooling around him. The young boy who died in his arms because the boy couldn't catch another breath. Alana telling him she couldn't share him with Bravo Team anymore. She didn't think she could be his wife anymore. The dead marine who talked to him. It was all confusing.

Mandy watched her friend from the open doorway. She was glad he was resting, but the restless movements of his fingers and legs told her that it wasn't a sound sleep. Checking her watch, she noticed that it was past noon and lunch was out at the taco stand. Maybe when Jason was awake they'd go for dinner. After a few seconds, she left the doorway and entered her bedroom. Unloading her luggage, she began the process of moving back in. It wasn't too hard since she was organized and packed her things so they could be easily unpacked.

She hadn't heard from Paul since she had given him Steve's damning evidence. The photos, the records should sink Xeon Tactical, but she was worried that Paul still might go after Ray. He had asked her to trust him, but it was so hard to do when you trusted very few people in this world. It was her job to be distrustful of everyone and everything. If Paul betrayed her and took down Ray, he would find out what it was like to have her as an enemy. Of course, that would be the least of Paul's problems. Making enemies of Navy Seals could be inherently dangerous. She hoped he knew that.

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Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.