Hope you enjoy. More coming, but I've had these two background chapters written for a while. Feedback is always welcome.

Again, I don't own the Brave or any of its characters.


When on leave Jaz still followed a variation to her schedule when she was deployed. She woke, had some coffee and then went for a run. Came home, ate breakfast, grab her stuff and headed back out to the gym. Came home again, showered, had a late lunch and then tackled whatever was on that day's agenda. Later was dinner followed by texting with her guys. If the weather was good, dinner and texting was done on the fire escape.

Jaz had first found Dave's Gym on her first leave home from the military. Back then it wasn't as close to her parents place to make it convenient, but she made it work jogging to and from the gym. Just as most recruits she thought she was in good shape before basic training. It didn't take long for her Drill sergeant to prove her wrong. After basic she moved onto advanced individual training. Again, she thought she was in good shape, but this also kicked her butt in a different way, proving how fit she really needed to be to make it in 'this man's' Army.

On her first leave home, she was determined not to lose ground. She looked at all kinds of options to keep up her fitness training. All the main stream gyms had an enrollment fees and a minimum of 12 months enrollment. That wouldn't work, she needed a three-week solution. Looking and asking around she found Dave's Gym, a no frills, classic boxers gym that had been around forever. Girls didn't go to places like Dave's Gym, it was a 'guys gym'. She really had to talk, more cajole her way in. In hind sight she realized it was flashing the dog tags, plus the fact that it was only for three weeks that convinced Dave to give her a chance. It was coming back every day of that leave, spending 4-6 hours in the gym, working out hard every day was what earned her the grudging respect of Dave and some of the other members.

That first week she worked out by herself. Using the heavy bags, light bags, and weights. Early the second week someone asked her if she wanted to spar in the ring. She had seen a bunch of them working out in the corner, bantering back and forth, so she was well aware that this was probably the result of a dare. The first guy to invite her into the ring was doing it to prove something to the other guys. She ended up proving something to them all. After that, every day a different guy would eventually approach her to spar in the ring and she would accept. Each match would invariably start the same, they would start out joking with her while the rest of the guys watching ringside, hitting her with soft blows, not putting any weight into the punch. She let them get away with that a few times as she warmed up and then she would really punch back. That would get their attention and cause them to engage. The first time they really hit her, she could see they expected her to back down, but she didn't. There is no scoring in sparing, but she would hold her own, and steadily earned their respect, one match at a time.

The second time she had leave, she was quick to stop by Dave's gym to find out if they could work out a similar arrangement. This time Dave agreed immediately. The first time, one of the issues Dave cited was that there was only one locker room and as part of the deal, she didn't use it. When she showed up the next day he produced a small bright pink towel and showed her a new nail put in the trim of the locker room door. New rule, if the pink towel was hanging, it was a girls locker room and all the guys needed to stay out. It was low tech but worked. She didn't know it but that first week back, if she was in the locker room, Dave loitered by the door to make sure everyone was educated on the new rule.


As much as Jaz hated her father she loved her mother. Her mother had tried to protect her from her father's physical and verbal abuse while she was growing up. While she wasn't usually successful, the fact that she tried meant so much to Jaz. And as much as her father would tell her how inadequate and useless she was growing up, her mother would quietly tell her how wonderful she was. If her father was around it would be small whispers, but when he wasn't around her mother would be more vocal in her support. She would celebrate her every success, every good grade, every accolade. Most of the time it was just with a hug and a kiss, but her mother's love was there for her.

Most of the time her father ignored her. To him she was a non-person, who didn't exist. She wasn't even worth acknowledging. Until he needed something, a drink, his dinner, or until something set him off. Then his rage would unfurl, and he would take his anger out on whoever was closest. Her mother tried to take the brunt of it, but there were times Jaz couldn't escape his wrath. And when she got older and tried to protect her mother, her mother would have none of it, putting herself in front and insisting Jaz either leave the room or the apartment.

On her first leave she tried to talk her mother into leaving him. She wanted to get an apartment for the two of them. But her mother was old fashioned and would not leave her father. Second leave went the same way. No matter how much she begged her, pleaded with her, her mother would not relent. And once her father got wind of this, he kicked Jade out and forbade Jaz's mother from seeing or speaking with Jaz again. Her name was not to be spoken in his household ever again.

So now Jaz never saw her father, which was fine by her. But she wouldn't abandon her mother. They had an arrangement, when deployed she would try to call home in the afternoons, when her father would be away at work. And when on leave Jaz would visit every Wednesday afternoon. She would do her normal run and gym routine, come home to shower, change, and visit her mother for a few hours. They would sit, talk and drink tea. And Jaz would leave well before her father was expected home. Each leave she tried to talk her mother into moving in with her, to no avail. Now Jaz lived just two subway stops away from her parents. Not very far for her weekly visit with her mom, but far enough away that she didn't have to worry about running into her father in the street.

Jaz didn't tell her mother any of the harsher details of Army life. She kept all her answers to questions light and upbeat. Yes, she had to go to basic training to get fit and learn to defend herself. And as part of that yes, she had learned how to fire a gun. But as far as her mother was concerned while Jaz might be deployed overseas she wasn't involved in anything dangerous. Her first deployment to Afghanistan she worked with local women and children, building schools and doing community relations type work. And she bunked with female soldiers, and mostly worked with female soldiers. So she kept with that. Jaz also tried to keep most of her stories around the base, unless it was something positive that she could work into her 'safe' narrative. These days the around base stories now included horse shoes, grilling steaks, small fire pits in the early evenings, and looking at the stars in the night sky. She mentioned the antics of Patton, their adopted stray dog. And she made a big point about paperwork, lots of boring paperwork.

If her mother asked her any really hard questions Jaz would deflect and if that wouldn't work, she would indicate that the answer was somehow classified. She didn't tell her that was a sniper, or that she was part of an elite special forces unit that was regularly sent into harm's way. And she definite didn't tell her mother that she lived in a hut with four other men.

While Jaz tried not to outright lie to her mother, she felt no qualms about altering facts to soften her stories and make them fit the narrative she had already built. After her first deployment the SOG 7 she was telling a her mother a funny story about McG. Her mother asked "McG, you keep saying McG, but what kind of name is that?"

Jaz replied, "that's their nick name."

"But why McG and what is her real name?" her mother asked.

"McG is for McGuire, um, Joe McGuire" replied Jaz as calmly as she could.

"Oh, Josephine McGuire, what a lovely name" replied her mother as she took a sip of her tea.

And that was the beginning of her slowly renaming all of her guys. She continued to use their nick names when she talked about them, but when pressed she created a pseudonym for them.

This leave on her third week home her mother asked her "and how is Elizabeth doing? You always have a few funny stories about Elizabeth."

Jaz had to hold her breath for a few seconds and then told her mother "'Eli's left the Army and gone back home to her family." Her mother smiled and exclaimed "Oh how wonder for her. Her family must be very happy to have her home with them."

Jaz froze for a second, then got up and crossed the kitchen to get more cookies and napkins from the counter to give herself a minute to compose herself before she faced her mother again. Her heart breaking for her best friend Elijah. Meanwhile her kept reminding herself that she hadn't lied, he had gone home to his family, to be buried in a family plot in their local cemetery.