Thank you for clicking on my story! This is yet again going to be another angsty Clay-centric fanfic but without the Stella bashing (because as I said before I don't actually hate her and also she's not even in this fic because they're broken up)

Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Clay clenches his fists around his beer angrily as he stares up at the television above the bar where his father is sat discussing his upcoming book, his upcoming book about their missions, their secret missions, and in that moment he realizes what his dad is planning. He's planning to ruin him, ruin his relationships and his brotherhood that he's worked so hard to gain.

He hasn't told his father anything about their missions, not their locations, not the time they spent there, not even the injuries, "how'd that happen?" "I cut myself while cooking" so he can't possibly be the source, but he's the first person people will suspect, and he can't really blame them for it. But to think that his own father wants to ruin him to this degree is quite a hard pill to swallow.

He throws a couple of dollar bills down on the counter and heads out of the bar as fast as he can, long strides leading him directly to his car without much thought, he's too angry to even think at this point. He just wants to go home and maybe punch a wall, "hey! Clay!" he picks up his pace as the voice of his father reaches his ears, "Clay, hey! Wait up!" he unlocks his car and opens the door but before he can get in he's stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Son, where are you going?" Clay almost physically recoils at the sound of his father's voice, if he thought couldn't tolerate him before he's just been proven wrong, now he really can't stand the man. "I'm going home, as far away from you as possible," he answers, his jaw clenched just as tightly as his fists.

"Did something happen in there?" Ash furrow his brows like he's worried for him, which Clay knows is an absolute lie, a lie that he's bought before but never again. "Yeah," stroking his chin he cracks a smile, not a genuine one but one that screams 'I'm smiling but if you touch me again I'll knock you out', "yeah, dad, something did happen, I saw your interview," and with those words Ash's entire demeanor changes and his face hardens. No sign of the concerned father he was just seconds ago but Clay finds it refreshing, it's probably the only time Ash has ever been real with him. "Do you hate me that much?" Clay continues to smile but his eyes tell a different story, "what have I done to you? Huh?" Ash squares his shoulders and crosses his arms, suddenly on the defense as if he's being attacked for nothing.

"They're gonna think I told you!" Clay shouts at him, dropping his smile in exchange for real anger, both inside and out, "I'm your son! You're supposed to protect me, not ruin me!" that seems to hit a nerve somewhere because Ash's face turns red and he shouts back, "and you're supposed to be my son! You're supposed to support me, not choose Jason Hayes's made up family over your real one!"

A pregnant pause falls between them in the parking lot, Clay can barely wrap his head around what he's just heard, "you call this family?" he asks quietly, his voice eerily calm, "you call this dysfunctional relationship we have a family?"

"What else would it be?" Clay throws his hands up in disbelief and turns away from his father to take a deep breath before turning back again, "I don't know! but it's certainly not family. You were never there when I was younger, always away saving the world or hanging with your friends to drink and when mom left you didn't step up to be the father you were supposed to be, you went on like usual and I had to move to fucking Liberia to live with pops," he takes a pause to gauge his reaction but is disappointed to see him unphased, "they're my family, if anything, not you."

"So why have you been willing to meet up with me?" Ash counters with a smug face as if he thinks Clay won't be able to say anything back, but Clay immediately retaliates, "you think I've agreed to meet you because we're family?" he questions, voice filled with disbelief. He laughs mockingly, "I've been meeting up with you 'cause I've thought you were trying to make up for the time lost, not that you ever could, but I thought you were making an effort to," Clay drags a hand through his hair and shakes his head, "I've never considered you family and I never will," he slides into his car seat and starts the engine, "you've already done enough so how about we just end it? Right here, I go my own way and you go yours," Clay doesn't bother to wait for an answer and he slams the car door shut, missing Ash's body by a millimeter.

"Bye, Ash," he tells him and begins to roll out of the parking lot without sparing his father a second glance, he's not worth it.

The first thing Clay sees when he steps into their room is his cage being ransacked by men Clay's never seen before, "hey, what the hell are you doing?" he calls and they look up from where they've got their hands on his stuff, "Sir, we're under strict orders from captain Harrison to go through your things," one of the men reply and Clay's brows furrow, "why?" he questions further and the same man answers, although more hesitantly, "y-you're under suspicion of leaking classified information, sir."

This has Clay's entire body freezing up and it feels like the breath has been knocked out of him, this is what he was afraid of. "To whom would I have been leaking this information, then?" his voice takes a serious turn, a quieter one, as he realizes what's going on. "I don't know if we're allowed to disclose that kind of info-"

"To my father, right? Ash Spenser?" the man shuts his mouth with a loud snap and of the men beside him nudge him in the side as to say, shut up you've said too much already, but Clay doesn't need verbal confirmation, he knows he's right, and he's livid.

He needs to find Blackburn, "well, have fun in here, just to spare you going through my sex toys, there's nothing in there," he tries to joke but it comes off cold and serious to the point that he's almost a bit scared they'll actually think he has sex toys stashed in there.

Exiting the room he heads down the many hallways, avoiding eye contact with anyone he passes because he's sure that if they already have a team ransacking his cage surely the majority of the people on base have already heard the news of his father's new book, and what's apparently in it. When he reaches Blackburn's office he can hear numerous voices from inside getting louder by the second and he recognizes one as Davis, his knocking silences the office and a few seconds passes where Clay starts to think they won't let him in, but then the door opens and he's met by Trent. And he does not look happy.

"What are you doing here?" Ray asks, his arms crossed over his chest in an offensive stance, "they're ransacking my cage," Clay replies bluntly as if that'll explain everything; which it apparently does. Blackburn pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales loudly, "did they explain why?"

"Didn't have to," Clay replies, biting the inside of his cheek, "I guess, by now, everyone's already heard the news," he adds and all Blackburn does is nod. Silence falls between them and Clay takes a look around the room at the other occupants, shocked to see that none of them are even sparing him a glance except for Davis. Sonny's turned away from him and so is Brock, Trent's beside him- although as far away from him as possible- Ray's standing a few feet away with his gaze fixed on Blackburn, and Jason...Jason hasn't looked at him once since he came in. His eyes are glued to something on the wall and his body as tense as a bowstring.

"You can't be serious?" to Clay's utter surprise it's Davis that speaks up first, her hands are on her hips and her mouth set in a frown and she's glaring at Blackburn, if looks could kill, Blackburn would be long dead. "Why are we even contemplating the possibility that-"

"Enough, Davis," Blackburn interrupts, his hand held up to stop her and his eyes shut close, "the last thing I want to do is suspect you, Spenser, but you must see how this looks for the higher ups?" Clay nods his head, of course, he understands what it looks like, because this is exactly what Ash wants. He wants Clay to get in trouble, wants him to lose everything he's worked so hard for solely because they aren't best pals, because Clay couldn't really care less about what happens to his fathe- to Ash.

"Until this has been cleared up, you're suspended from going on any missions, understood?" and as much as Clay wants to protest, he knows that Blackburn's being lenient with him and that he'll probably get in trouble himself for being just that, so he keeps his mouth shut and nods once more. With a sigh of relief, probably because Clay decided not to put up a fight, Blackburn says absently, "dismissed," and Clay doesn't dare to linger any longer. As he opens the door he hears Sonny mumble, "don't let the door hit you on the way out," and he pretends not to hear just as much as he pretends that it doesn't make his heart hurt.

Once he's outside of the base by his car he doesn't know what to do with himself so he just stands there. He and Stella are broken up, Brian's dead, and the team's not talking to him so that means that he has no one to turn to, and it makes him realize how easy it was for Ash to ruin everything, in just a day. Sure, once this blows over and everyone realizes that he hasn't been leaking any information the team will go back to talking to him and he won't be completely alone, but for now, his dad has succeeded.

A week passes and he spends it at home, for the most part, that or the gym to get his on straight again but he makes the active choice to stick to the local gym close to him rather than the gym on base- he imagines his presence wouldn't be appreciated there. He runs until he feels like he's about to pass out and he lifts until his arms feel like they're about to fall off, he orders take out home because he's too tired to cook for himself and checks his phone as often as he can- not that it matters, no one's contacted him ever since he left Blackburn's office. No one except for Lisa who texted him are you okay? the very same day before falling silent.

He's been all alone for a week now and it's been miserable. A week on his own is no big deal, if anything it's a vacation. But a week on his own, because no one wants to talk to him or spend time with him, hurts more than he thought it would.

His father's been quiet as well, ever since that night when they went drinking and Clay unraveled Ash's master plan there's been radio silence between them and Ash hasn't made any new TV appearances. Clay's toyed with the thought of shooting a quick text to Sonny just to ask him, to clarify, that they're refusing to talk to him because they're under strict orders not to and not because they don't want to. But Clay's afraid of the answer.

When the week has gone by Clay gets a call from Blackburn who tells him he's been reinstated and that they need him back at base for a new mission, and Clay struggles not to let out a shout of joy right into the phone. He's been so incredibly restless and anxious the past week, but now that he's back in business everything will be fine again. Or at least that's what Clay thought.

As soon as he walks into the conference room the buzzing stops and everyone seems to pause in the middle of their conversations to look at him. He holds his hands up like a man at gunpoint and says, "don't stop on my account," he jokes yet no one laughs, he doesn't even see anyone's mouth twitch. Alright, tough crowd. Maybe it'll get better soon, they'll probably just a bit surprised to see me back, everything's fine.

But it doesn't take long for Clay to realize that everything's in fact not fine because not even one of the guys has greeted him nor looked at him, not even Cerberus because Brock has a tight grip on his collar- which he never has otherwise, always one to let Cerberus run free in the conference room because it's not like he can run away.

"Ahmad Abbar, a Pakistani arms dealer known for taking his payment in powder rather than cash. We've located him hiding in these mountains with a small army guarding him, your mission is to get in there, take him out, and burn everything down. Simple enough," Mandy tells them, her posture screams confidence but her expression is puzzled. "The CIA has been tracking this guy for months now and this is the first time he's stayed in one place for as long as he has, this man is highly dangerous and he's got many men ready to lay their lives down for him, do not let him get away," Jason throws down the file in his hand onto the table and stretches his legs. "Come on Mandy, have a little faith. It's a simple in and out, nothing we haven't done before," which is true, yet Mandy doesn't seem convinced.

"Nothing is simple when it comes to Abbar, every time we've managed to locate him he's disappeared within minutes and we've lost him again. We can't- I can't afford another loss," this time Jason straightens up again, less casual than before and tells her, "copy that. We'll get you Abbar," and just like that the meeting's over. Blackburn informs them on the way out that they leave in four hours which leaves very little time to do anything, Jason and Ray immediately leave to say goodbye to their kids and Trent and Brock leave to say goodbye to their girlfriends. Sonny simply follows Davis down the hall and disappears somewhere among the many camouflaged people.

But Clay...Clay doesn't have anyone to say goodbye to so he simply heads to his cage to pack some stuff and get some rest, bitterly he sits down on his bed and glares out of his cage at the empty ones around him. It leaves a sour taste in his mouth; the loneliness.

Thanks for reading!

I haven't decided how many chapters this will be but it'll probably be around 5 chapters long :)

Feel free to leave suggestions for me in the reviews to get my creative juices flowing 3

(that sounds disgusting I'm so sorry)