Author's Note: Hi, thank you all for following and reviewing my story.
I'm working hard to keep the team interaction in character, and to give a proper look in their minds, especially with Clay and his memories (I'm glad you liked that parts by the way).
I'm sorry if I can't update with a perfect regular schedule, but I'm trying!
Hope you will enjoy the next chapter. Have a good time.

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"Are you sure this is the actual place?" Sonny's tone was getting really nervous, and they all knew that patience was not one of his best qualities.

"You were the one who was leading!" Brock said, stopping.

"Yeah..." Trent said, as they carefully put Clay's litter on the ground.
"They'll be here," he assured, noticing that Sonny wasn't the only one with a disappointed expression on his face.
"Even in this condition, we should trust our equipment, and moreover, we should trust our team."

"Especially in this condition!" Jason stepped in, trying to keep his cool. "Everyone at TOC is doing everything in their power to get to us, you can bet on that!"

"Let's try the radio..." Ray suggested, sitting on the ground, completely out of strengths.
"I always feel safer with a working radio," he whispered, quite talking to himself.

"TOC this is Bravo One." Jason tried. "Do you copy?" They waited.

"TOC, this is One. We're ready for exfil, where are you?" he tried again.

There was a deafening silence, then some noise interference came through the radio.

"Roge... Bravo O... You...ride wil...there any minut..."

They tried to find a better signal, but nothing more happened.

All of them sighed, looking one another.

"Damn jungle!" Sonny remarked, half relieved.

"Ok guys, we can sit tight and rest, they're coming for us," Jason said, looking at his exhausted teammates.

...

For the first time in days, they were again in the open air. The sun was still up, with no trees or leaves blocking its rays, and they had clean visual for more than a few meters.

Now they could finally breathe again, and relax a little bit.

They sat there, hoping to eventually dry their humid clothes, while constantly scanning the sky to spot friendly faces.

"Let me take a look," Trent said, trying to put his hand on Ray's forehead to check his temperature.

"I'm good," Ray retracted, "A night of good sleep, and I'm gonna be a new man," he assured.

After all those days with the adrenaline level at the top, they were all obviously at their limit, and having this little opportunity to rest, with a concrete chance they could soon reach home, was a real blessing.
A rarity they couldn't waste.

Of course that was true for all of them but their Master Chief.
Jason had to take care of his men, he couldn't let go, he had to keep focusing on the team till they were safe for real.

He watched over Sonny, who was leaned back to back on the half asleep Ray, with the concerned Trent secretly scanning them; he looked at Brock softly petting the resting Cerberus; he silently observed the unconscious and pale Clay.

"You ok, Boss?" Trent caught eyes with him.

"I'm good till you guys are good." He nodded.

The silence that dropped around them was quite unreal.
They could barely hear birds tweeting in the distance, while trying to sense the helicopter coming for them, but they didn't dare to talk, to not miss that precious sound.
Maybe they even had not the strengths to talk.

At some point Cerberus started yelping, drawing Brock's attention on Clay.
"Guys..." he called out. "There's something wrong with the kid!"

Trent immediately knelt by him, "Nose bleeding," he noted. Then he carefully moved the injured soldier to his left side to make sure he didn't swallow the blood, and suffocate with it.

"Mmm... What..." Clay regained consciousness, finding someone pressing a towel to his nose. His muscles tensed, and he instinctively tried to free himself.

"Easy kid, it's just Trent." Jason approached, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"We have to stop this, you can't afford to lose more blood," he said, glancing at the bandage on his right side. It was far from being sterile anymore, with dark red blood clotted all over it.

"Yeah, I know," Trent glanced at him, "I should have already replaced it, but I was fearing to do him more harm than good."

"I guess we don't have much choice by now..." Jason took the medic kit. "What do you need?"

The others could only stare at the scene, powerless.
They were men of action, and being blocked there, knowing they could do nothing to help their teammates, was one of the most difficult thing they ever had to do.

"Come here, take my place," Trent said to his boss. "The nose bleeding isn't stopping, you have to keep on the pressure,
"Yeah, like this," they switched, "Careful! Don't suffocate him."

"Ok, I have children, I know how to treat a bleeding nose," Jason stated.

Trent put his hands on Clay's side, to remove the bandage.
"Hey, try to relax kid, I know this isn't pleasant, but trust me on this, ok?" he said as the young man instinctively tried to avoid the contact.

Clay could barely understand what was going on around him, but those two, simple words: 'trust me,' somehow successfully reached his brain.

"I hate him!" ten years old Clay was throwing rocks at trees, "I'm never, ever gonna trust him again... anymore!"

"Ok son, stop it," his grandfather took him aside. "C'mon, come here,"
"Your father let you down too many times, I know that," the man tried to comfort the kid. "And I know that, right now, you think it's better for you to just leave him alone, and forget about him."

The boy was forced to look straight at him, but he didn't say a word.

"You have to keep in mind that when you really love someone, you can't let go, you have to give him one more chance."

"But I hate him..." his eyes were full of tears.

"No, you don't..." he kindly smiled at his grandson. "Not really."

"I'm not gonna trust anyone, ever again..."

"Woo, don't rush things now!" he took him by his shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes.
"You can't do that, son."

They stood silent for a few seconds.

"You still trust me and your grandmother, don't you?"

The kid reluctantly nodded, taking a deep breath.

"And you know that we trust you, and we believe in you. Even if sometimes you make some bad choices, we still love you. You know that, right?"

The kid nodded again, trying to understand where the man was going with it.

"You have to take that path open," his grandfather kindly warned him.
"If you do, someday you will find someone who you will trust with your life, and they will do the same with you. But if you don't, and you block that path, loneliness will be all you have..."

Clay growled in pain, as Trent removed the last layer of gauze, exposing the wound, gasping at the sight.

"What?" Jason asked, noticing his teammate's reaction.

"This is not going well, the wound... it's infected."

"Of course it is!" Sonny stepped in from behind.

"Alright, Brock, help us keeping him still," Trent searched for the alcohol in his bag. "Boss, you try to keep him conscious, this is gonna hit really thought on him."

They nodded, constantly over-watched by the other two frogmen.

"Let's do this," Trent poured the liquid abundantly on Clay's wound.
As the first drop reached his lacerated skin he contracted, trying to escape from the pain, but his teammates held him still.

"Agh..."

"Stay with us, kid," Jason held his head, with one hand still containing the nose bleeding, and the other one gently placed on Clay's cheek.
"C'mon, keep your eyes open, look at me," he kept talking to him.

"Agh..." Clay desperately tried to stay strong, and to not let his teammates down, but the pain had the best of him.
"Mmm... please, stop..." he couldn't stop stirring.

"It's ok," Trent reassured, "I'm almost there."
He put some fresh bandages on the wound, and Brock could finally let him go.

Jason continued sustaining him, keeping him on his side.
He could feel him wavering, all tensed, and shocked.

"Where the hell is the damn helo?" he yelled, frustrated.

...

Bravo Team's mood was now at his lowest point. Frustration, exhaustion, and tension filled the air.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Sonny eagerly got up, abruptly awakening Ray, and making him fall on his back as his support defaulted.

"What the..." Ray tried to protest, but Jason hissed him.

"They're coming," Sonny scanned the sky, relieved.

"Hey, kid. C'mon, the cavalry's here," Trent tried to wake Clay, "We're going home."
But the kid was totally lost in his mind again.

"You're going home for the holiday," twelve years old Clay looked at his grandmother as she told him the 'good news.'
"What now? You're not happy to spend Christmas with your mom." She said, noticing the unhappy expression on his face.

"Yeah, of course I am...but...what about you?"

"What about us?" She, asked puzzled.

"I want to stay with you too..." He pointed out. "You are my family too... even more than..."

"Don't finish that sentence son," his grandfather interrupted him, disappointed. "Your mother entrusted us with you because she needed help, not because she doesn't care. And you perfectly know that!"

"Yeah, I know... I'm sorry..." he tried to apologize. "It's just..."

"This is nothing to do with you flying alone back and forward over the ocean, right?" grandmother kindly suggested.

"No!" the boy tried to hide his concern. "Ok, maybe..." he finally had to admit. "Can't you really came?"

"It's gonna be ok, baby," she softly hugged him. "We'll be here for you the exact moment you land back."

...

As the helicopter landed, two corpsman jumped out, and promptly headed to them.

"Bravo Team? We're here for you!" one of them said. "We can transport only 4 of you on this, we take the injured first."

The soldiers looked at them puzzled.

"There is another helo 5 mikes away, waiting we clear the ground," he assured, quickly checking his new patients.

Jason looked at his men, for sure he wasn't eager to separate from them, but he knew that was the right call.

"Ok," he nodded. "Spenser is in the worst conditions, he is bleeding, and has a high fever," he said, while the other medic was already taking care of the kid.
"Ray, Sonny, you're on the first helo too."

"It appears you sustained a head injury, you should come too," the corpsman added.

"I'm not going before all my men does," Jason insisted.

"Never thought I could say that, but, ehm..." Sonny jumped in. "I'm good, Brock should take Cerberus, they should go first."

They all looked at him, not knowing if he caught some strange fever, or if hardly knocked his head, but Jason approved his suggestion.

Trent helped a medic transporting Clay's litter on board, while the other one was leading Ray in.

"Hey, keep a look on them, ok?" Jason said as Brock managed to put the dog on the helicopter.

He nodded and jumped in, as the remaining Bravo Team could only watch them take off.

"Is there really someone coming for us too, right?" Sonny didn't even wait for their friends to step out of their sight.

The other two slightly chuckled, shaking their heads. They were too worried to care about Sonny's stupid concerning.

A couple of minutes later the second helicopter was there for the remaining frogmen.

Sonny jumped in as soon as the helicopter touched the ground, eager to leave that damn place.
Jason and Trent loaded the pilot's corpse on board, and quickly jumped in. Their main concern was now to reunite with the others as soon as it was possible.

The flight of the second group was completely silent, they couldn't stop staring at the corpse laying next to them.

Suddenly there was an air pocket, and their transportation slightly waved.

"Woo!" Sonny whined, "What the hell was that?"

"Relax, everything is under control," the co-pilot looked back to them.

"Don't tell me we have to add flying to your list of phobias," Jason smirked.

...

Blackburn and Davis were right there when the first group landed.

"You ok?" Davis asked as soon as she saw them.

"Never felt better," Ray forced his voice out, watching the two corpsmen taking Clay out.

"Oh Gosh..." she gasped, seeing the kid like that.

"Don't listen to him, he has a bad fever going on." Brock took the dog in his arms.

"Give him to me," Blackburn offered his help. "Here you are," he said putting Cerberus down. "Good boy."

Brock helped Ray get out, as the latter could barely get up on his own.

"C'mon, doctors will take care of you," Davis said, sustaining her friend on the other side.

They noticed they were already taking Clay inside, and quickly followed them.

"I'll stay here waiting for Jason and the others," the commander said while the others were leaving.

As soon as the second helicopter landed, the rest of Bravo Team jumped out, impatient to rejoin with their teammates.

"Jace, you ok?" Blackburn asked him, seeing the clotted blood on his forehead.

"I'm fine, where're the others?" he harshly replied.

"They just got inside, come with me," the commander lead them.

When they reached the rest of the team, Clay had already been brought away to be taken care of.

"You have to step away," a nurse said, as whole Bravo Team tried to go after the kid. "You need to be isolated until we know what's going on."

"No way I am gonna leave one of my men alone!" Jason insisted.

"You can't come farther," the nurse firmly stopped their way. "You have to be checked and cleared."

"I got him," Davis stepped in. "I'll stay with Spenser, you do what they say."

Bravo Team reluctantly nodded, and settled in an improvised isolation room.

The doctors tried to take Cerberus out the room, but there was no way to make him leave his team,

"He needs medical attention too!" Brock strongly pointed out, and they had no choice but give up, and let the dog stay with them.