Kelsey spent the afternoon, after having a much needed shower, having a nap. She had a grueling schedule at TBS and after that ruck; she needed a damn nap. In reality and in war, she wouldn't have that luxury but for now, she was going to take advantage of the mattress in the spare room of her brother's apartment.

She pulled her hair into a messy bun as she opened the door to see Clay playing video games and she just shook her head. Some of her fellow second Lieutenants played video games whenever they could on their downtime and sometimes she would join them, but rarely. She could kick their asses at Mario Kart, which they found unbelievable, until she actually did on multiple occasions but she had no interest in getting better at any other video games.

"What are you playing?" she asked.

Clay shrugged. "Fortnite."

"Original," she said.

He glared at her, turned off the TV and put down the remote. "And what do you guys do on your down time at TBS?"

"Not play Fortnite?" she shot back as she noticed a bunch of unanswered texts from some of her fellow 2nd Lieutenants. Only one of them knew where she was this weekend and it seemed that her being gone was a topic of conversation back at Quantico.

Clay nodded towards her phone. "Your phone was blowing up while you were taking a nap."

"I see that," Kelsey said.

Clay paused for a second. "And Patrick called? I didn't answer it. You should probably tell him."

Kelsey sighed. "You liked him."

"I didn't say that," Clay said.

2nd Lieutenant Patrick Shanahan was one of her platoon buddies that she had dragged out when they went bowling. However, it didn't just end up bowling. About 8 of the group ended up at some raging house party off base that night, one of Patrick's friends, and they all ended up crashing there. Patrick pretty much saw straight through the fact that Clay was not a friend from Arizona State University nor a boyfriend and Kelsey knew she would have to tell him eventually. "The simple fact that you mentioned that he called when I can see his name on my missed calls, says you don't mind him."

"Of all the guys you would date, he wouldn't be the worst," Clay said.

She glared at him. "Can we stop talking about Patrick and I?"

"Kels, don't let a good thing in front of you go. He might just be the only guy who can and is willing to keep up with you," Clay pointed out.

She rolled her eyes at him. "What are we doing tonight," she said, changing the subject.

"Thought we would go to a party."

"Do you actually have friends outside the Navy?" she questioned.

He laughed. "Well, I'm certainly not letting you put your career in jeopardy this early by partying with enlisted sailors, so yes, they are not in the Navy."

"Clay, who's friends are these?" She challenged. "You're a SEAL with the definition of no life outside of your team."

He looked at her; damn she was good at reading in between the lines. "Friends of friends of my ex-girlfriend's."

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. "And is Stella going to be there tonight?"

"No."

"I guess we shall show our faces then," Kelsey replied. This was a bad idea, she knew it. A very bad idea. Although she also knew that this was some sort of fucked up test he had planned because this whole weekend was a test. She was trying to think on what earth a party with a bunch of strangers could be a "test" but she would roll with it for now.


When they got there, Clay introduced them to the guy hosting the party- Jordan. He had dated one of Stella's friends and somehow him and Clay kept in touch and that's how they knew each other. Kelsey felt a little better about the situation knowing how they met and Stella probably wouldn't be showing her face at the party. She still felt a little weird being around friends of friends of his ex-girlfriend but Clay and Jordan seemed fine with it, so she would have to deal with it too.

Jordan handed her a beer bottle as soon as Clay introduced her. "So not a girlfriend because you're not his type at all and I don't think Clay has any other friends so spill."

Kelsey took the beer bottle and smiled. "You know when he said, let's go to a party, I also asked where these imaginary friends were from."

"He is standing right here," Clay said, as he sipped his beer.

Jordan laughed. "I'll figure it out, who you are Miss Kelsey. In the mean time, my girlfriend Michelle is in the kitchen so if you need a drink, please come find one of us. Apparently I invited a lot of guys so if you're single, hit one of them up."

"She has a boyfriend," Clay responded quickly.

Kelsey almost spat out her beer. "Excuse me? Are you answering for me now?"

Jordan was trying desperately hard not to burst out laughing. "Well, in her defense, I don't see a ring on her finger."

She smiled sweetly and then shot a death glares at her brother. "Thank you. I am very much single so that is very good information."

Around 2 am, she was involved in a heated discussion with Jordan and another guy on the state on college football and the playoff system. Jordan, having gone to Clemson, the other guy having gone to Oklahoma were in favour of keeping it the way it was. She thought it would be better served to open it up to 8 teams. She had been keeping her eye on Clay the whole night because he was talking to a little blonde girl who gave Kelsey the spidey senses. They were getting very close and she had seen him kiss her a couple times. She didn't care about the fact that he was kissing a girl, it was who he was kissing. Call it her gut feeling, but it was telling her to get him out of there and to do it fast and quick.

And he was about to walk out the door with the little blonde girl. "Should I be worried?" She asked Jordan and the other guy.

"Is that your boyfriend?" the other guy asked, looking at Clay.

"No. But she's certainly not coming back to my place," she muttered.

Jordan sighed. "Yeah, you should be worried. She is trouble. Her name is Gracie, I think."

"Either of you run interference on her, I'll get him and get out of here before things go sideways. Jordan, it was great meeting you. I'll be living with Clay for about six months soon so I'm sure I'll see more of you and Michelle."

Jordan gave her a sideways hug. "You and Michelle hit off well so you know where we live. Come over anytime. I'll go run interference."

They both approached Clay and Gracie as they were about to get their shoes on. "We're leaving," Kelsey said, as she got her own flip flops on.

Clay looked at her. "What?"

"Without her," she said, grabbing his arm. She barely looked back as she basically pushed her brother outside the door as Jordan was leading the blonde chick away from the door.

He broke free from her grasp as soon as they were on the lawn. Thankfully Jordan and Michelle's place was within walking distance of their apartment, so they'd walk home. "What the fuck?"

Kelsey stepped back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"Come on Kels!"

"Excuse me! She is absolutely no good and you are not bringing some fucking bimbo home while I'm there. Absolutely not. Forget it. You are better than that."

Clay's mouth dropped open a little. "She's not a fucking bimbo."

"Please. I'm not going to reason with you with you on the merits of why I think what I think, because just call it a woman's intuition, while you're drunk but I will give you a piece of my mind on this. Stop sleeping with everything that walks to get over Stella!" Kelsey was basically screaming at him by this point.

"I'm not," Clay started to say.

"Don't try and defend yourself, Clay. I love you but this has got to stop. I don't know your relationship with Stella, thank God, but I do know this, stop sleeping around. It's not helping. The advice someone told you of "its better to get under someone else to get over someone" is great for a time or two. I actually agree with it, I've done it but you are taking it too far. I know you fucked that chick in Triangle last weekend too."

Clay just rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."

Kelsey wanted to smack him at that point. "That chick in there says otherwise," she yelled at him, not really caring who could hear. He could use some tough love.

He laughed. "You certainly do have a great yelling officer voice," he said as he started walking home.

Kelsey wanted to beat her head into the pavement. But she just stared at him, wondering what in the hell that conversation was about. One thing was for sure- her living with him could not happen soon enough. She would just have to hope that Bravo would be spun up a bunch while she was at IOC for 13 weeks and he wouldn't be sitting at his apartment alone, trying to get over Stella, or at the bar, drinking his sorrows away and picking up any chick that looked cute enough. She knew her brother was better than this "get over Stella" phase he was going through.


Sonny, Brock, Trent, Blackburn, Ray and Clay all gathered around the main table in their "locker" room. It was early, 8 am, and Clay was feeling the affects of last night. Kelsey, however, woke up with a smile on her face and made them breakfast with the little that was in Clay's house for food. At least he had coffee. He was definitely a little grumpy this morning, feeling just a little hungover. The coffee she made was potent enough to wake him up though.

"Who's the chick sleeping on the couch, with the Diamondbacks hat on her face in the hallway?" Brock asked.

"She looks a lot like the girl from the bar the other night," Sonny remarked.

Mandy, Jason and Davis came through the door a second later. "Who's the girl in the hallway with the Diamondbacks hat on?" Jason asked as he joined the group.

Ray and Clay were trying really hard not to laugh, mainly at Sonny's comment but they refrained from commenting.

Blackburn took control of the meeting. "The reason we are all here this morning is we are going on a little training exercise."

"With Mandy?" Trent asked.

Mandy shrugged. "I just follow orders. But why not?"

"And the reason that the girl looks like the girl from the bar, Sonny, is that is the girl from the bar," Ray said.

Jason held up his hand. "What girl from the bar?"

Brock explained. "Some girl came into the bar on Friday night and Sonny made some comment about how hot she was, however, she went straight up to Clay and they definitely know each other but Clay didn't introduce us."

"Leaving Sonny with a wild imagination on who this mystery girl is," Trent also supplied. "But apparently Ray knows."

Blackburn cleared his throat. "Do you want to know who this mystery girl is?"

Sonny, Trent and Brock all answered yes simultaneously. Jason just eyed his commanding officer, very confused. Davis and Mandy were trying hard not to laugh as Blackburn had filled them in earlier on what was happening. Ray had a neutral expression on and Clay was studying each of their faces.

Blackburn got out his folder and put Kelsey's OCS commissioning picture on the table. "Meet 2nd Lieutenant Kelsey Vanderhoek. Aka the girl from the bar."

Sonny looked at Trent and then Brock. "Okay, I didn't see that coming."

Jason held up his hand. "What are we missing?"

Blackburn looked around the room and then tried to keep a straight face as he said these next few words. "She's Ash Spencer's daughter."

There was silence as everybody processed those words and then Sonny laughed. "You're fucking with us, right?"

"Clay?" Blackburn said, turning the room to him.

Clay scratched his cheek. "She's my half sister. Ash dropped the bombshell on me about a month ago."

Jason ran his hand down his face and sighed. "She's a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps!?"

"She's doing TBS at Quantico right now, graduates in three weeks," Blackburn informed everyone.

Brock turned to Clay. "So that's where you were last weekend. I was a little confused when you blew me off because you said you were going to Quantico."

Clay nodded. "Went up there last weekend to meet her and this weekend she came down here."

Jason shook his head. "Alright, I'm going to need time to process that there is another Spencer running around. But why are we really here? Does this have something to do with her?"

Blackburn nodded. "Her superiors at TBS want her to do the Infantry Officer Course."

Again, silence. "What's her MOS?" Trent asked.

"0204," Clay answered. "Intelligence. She doesn't have to go, but they want her to go."

Sonny scratched his beard. "I've heard that's a hard course, even for men."

"Which is why, we are getting her prepared," Blackburn said. "She has a brother who is a Tier 1 operator, I think we should use these resources to help her. I don't care what your views are personally about women in combat, I've decided that we are going to help her. Is that understood?"

"Kelsey, Clay and I went on a 17 mile ruck yesterday, she had 105 lbs on and she completed it and had never done a ruck that long or with that weight on and with just the training at TBS she has been doing," Ray said.

Davis was impressed. "Damn."

"We're going to do a little training exercise with land nav and trying not to get dead," Blackburn explained. He turned to Cerebus, who was laying by Brock's feet. "Go wake her up."

Kelsey came into the room, with the Arizona Diamondbacks hat on backwards, and the dog coming in after her. "You sent a dog to come in and wake me up?" She then turned to Sonny. "Told you I'd see you boys around."

Jason just rubbed his face. "Definitely a Spencer."

Clay didn't even bother to tell his little sister to zip it, which would be a waste of his breath. Instead he did introductions. He finished with Kelsey. "And this is my little sister, Kelsey. She has a little bit of a mouth to her but she'll make one hella an officer. Oh and Sonny, I shouldn't have to tell you this, but she's off limits."

Sonny tried hard not to laugh. "No shit, there, buddy. No shit." Not only was that hot girl off limits due to rank; she was also Clay's little sister. He definitely pegged her wrong on Friday night. Kelsey was the definition of jailbait.

"Today's training exercise. Kelsey, here, has to use some land nav skills to find a spot that Davis has hidden in the woods for her. She has three hours to find it. Mandy and I will be with her, evaluating her. However, we are not going to help her unless she hits the three hours. Davis will be putting paintballs at the site that Kelsey has to find. After that, it's full on war."

"Paintball war?" Ray asked.

Mandy nodded. "Bravo against us three. You have to kill us three before we reach the target point home. Even if one of us three makes it back to the target point home, we win. Davis will be the referee."

Jason looked all around the room. "Bravo against the Officers? Okay. We'll take that challenge. You know this is 6 on 3, right?"

Blackburn nodded and pointed to Kelsey. "This is about her finding a way for us three to not get hit while under extreme pressure. She's leading this."

"And no head shots," Mandy said. "We aren't wearing helmets so let's keep them at chest level."

Sonny clapped his hands. "Let's do this. I love kicking some Officer's asses."


While Kelsey, Blackburn and Mandy set off to find the hidden paintballs deep in the woods that Davis hid, the boys met up at the target location to try and come up with a plan of attack.

"I think we split up into teams of three," Jason said.

"I agree," Ray replied. "But I really don't think we should under-estimate them."

Sonny laughed. "She's an inexperienced Lieutenant, Blackburn hasn't done ops in forever and when has Mandy been in the field?"

Clay shook his head. "I agree with Ray. They are smart. They'll find a way when we are least expecting it."

Jason also shook his head. "I dunno. It's six against three. We have this."

"Except if one of them gets back here, they win," Trent replied.

"Has anyone actually seen Mandy shoot?" Brock asked.

All of them shook their heads. "For all we know, she could be a sharp shooter," Ray pointed out. "All I'm saying guys, is don't get caught with your pants down being too cocky."

Jason turned to Clay. "What was up with that little comment towards her and her mouth and being a good officer?"

Clay shrugged. "Oh nothing."

Ray started laughing, having met Kelsey. "She dressed you down last night, didn't she?"

"And then some."

"What was the yelling about?" Jason asked.

Clay shrugged. "A girl."

Sonny's eyebrows rose, putting two and two together. "Your sister cockblocked you?!"

"When you put it like that, I guess she did," Clay replied.

Jason and Ray just looked at each other, showing a knowing glance. They had heard through the grapevine of the sleeping around that Clay was doing, trying to get over Stella and they did not condone it however they didn't want to say anything right now. And if his sister was going to do the talking, they'd let her. "Your sister has balls," was all Jason said.


Kelsey, without the help of Blackburn and Mandy, found the target in an hour and a half, way under her three hour deadline. She turned to the Lt. Commander and the CIA Officer once she found what Davis had hidden. "Looks like we are in business."

"Not bad, not bad at all," Mandy said as Blackburn began handing both of them paintballs. They had carried their paintball guns in with them.

Blackburn got all of them that Davis had hidden and passed them to Kelsey and Mandy. "How do you want to play this Kelsey?"

"Are we allowed to use Davis?"

Blackburn shrugged. "We didn't say in the rules that we couldn't. Do you have something specific in mind?"

She also shrugged. "Not right now," she said as she moved her Kevlar vest around. Before they all left, all 9 players were in agreement of no headshots, but everyone would wear Kevlar vests. She wasn't in uniform today, instead opting for jeans and hoodie, but wearing her Marine issued combat boots.

Mandy filled her paintball gun up and looked at the Lieutenant for orders. "These guys are going to be hard to play against. You up for this?"

"They are going to underestimate us and I think we should play right into that hand," Kelsey said. "Notice that ravine on the left side of the valley?"

Blackburn turned to look at it. "Yeah."

"I say we go low, and use that for cover."

Mandy looked at Blackburn and then back at Kelsey. "That's bad tactical skills. Everyone knows you go high for better advantage."

"Exactly. That's precisely why we go low," Kelsey said.

Blackburn nodded. "Kid is right. They aren't going to look down the ravine."

Mandy nodded. "Okay, you made a compelling argument. I also think they are going to underestimate us."

"The plan is to get as many of them as we can while we are in the ravine. I think they'll split up into teams of three. Once we are out of the ravine, we all split up. Mandy, you take the left. Blackburn, you take the right and I'll go center. The object is that only one of us has to get to the truck and we win."

"I like that plan," Blackburn said.

Mandy nodded. "Solid plan."

Kelsey took the walkie-talkie and radioed to Davis. "Tell the boys its game on."


AN: So... who wins this? Bravo or the Officers?