I really do appreciate those who are continuing to read and review this story! I know that the last chapter was pretty heavy but I have some good stuff coming up. I promise. :)

Chapter 11 - Danny Green

"I didn't really spend any time with Smith." Carlton spoke, breaking the silence. "Other than losing to him at poker, which doesn't count. That guy cleaned out everyone."

Danny chuckled. "The quiet ones always get you."

"I don't recall you warning us, either," Carlton said pointedly. "Seriously, though, I'm not sure I heard the guy say more than two words up in the arctic."

"That's the way Jason was. Super quiet. Introverted. But once you got to know him he had a lot to say," Danny replied, before silently adding: The kind of guy that you don't really notice is there, until he isn't there anymore, and you realize just how much you relied on him.

Two years ago - Bahamas

"Are you still sleeping?" Danny demanded as he yanked open the curtains to their hotel room. "Our tee time is in thirty minutes."

Frankie groaned. "Did you forget that this is our vacation? Why exactly are we getting up at the crack of dawn."

"Nine am is not the crack of dawn," Danny argued.

"Why are you here anyway," Frankie muttered. "Thought you were spending the night at Blondie's place."

Blondie, aka Dianne, was a girl who Danny had met at the resort pool upon their arrival here four days ago and had seen regularly since. Twenty-three, she and her friends were here to celebrate their college graduation. Talking to them Danny sometimes felt a thousand years old. "Nothing happened. We're meeting her and her friends for drinks later."

Frankie sat straight up in bed. "Please tell me that you finally had sex with her because oh my god have you been a pain in the ass. The only reason we let you come on this trip was so that you would get laid and chillax."

Danny shrugged awkwardly, unwilling to admit what had happened last night. The problem wasn't with Dianne. It was with him. "I think she just looks too much like Rebec…"

"Gah! You aren't allowed to say her name!" Frankie shrieked as he jumped out of bed.

"Stop screaming like a girl, Benz, and go take a shower," Jason interjected. "You owe us a round, Green. You said her name."

Danny scowled at Jason. "Seriously? What kind of friends are you two?"

"Good ones." Jason ignored Danny's sulking as he walked across the room and cracked two beers, passing one to Danny. "You agreed to the rules. Mention the ex-girlfriend and buy us a round. Although I'll give you a pass for the next three minutes while Benz is warming up the shower for me."

Danny threw himself onto Frankie's bed, ignoring the fact that it smelled like stale beer and feet.

"I almost called Dianne the wrong name," Danny admitted. "We were at her place going at it and for a moment I forgot who I was with. God, it feels like I'm cheating."

"You and the Rebecca were together a long time. Singles life is going to take some adjusting. But you'll get the hang of it, start taking advantage of the benefits."

"Like you do?" Danny challenged. Jason's lack of a social life was a running joke within the team. As far as Danny knew, the man had never had a girlfriend – ever. If he didn't know for certain that Jason occasionally entertained female company overnight, he would have thought that the guy was gay. In reality he was just kind of a loner.

Jason let the taunt roll over him. "Relationships are pointless. Why would I want a girl around messing with my stuff and getting all pissy when I ship out?"

"Rebecca is a good person, you know."

"Of course she is. Nobody said otherwise."

Danny began pacing the room. "What if I made a mistake, Jay? What if I totally screwed up breaking things off?"

Jason shrugged as he sipped his beer. "Nothing stopping you from calling her and patching things up."

Danny stopped to glare at the other man. "You and Frankie threatened to flush my phone if you caught me talking to Rebecca."

"You once managed to take all of the screws out of Benz's bed without him noticing," Jason pointed out. "Pretty sure you could make a phone call without getting caught."

The image of Frankie flat on his ass after his bed collapsed when he tried to sit down had Danny grinning. That particular prank had taken some effort, but it had been well worth it.

Jason wasn't done talking, though. "Look, Danny, if you want to screw up your life by marrying the wrong girl, I'm happy to go to the wedding and drink the free booze. But I have a feeling that when you find the right girl, you won't spend two years dithering about whether to buy her an engagement ring."

Danny set down the phone that he had just picked up. Damn. Jason was right. There was a reason he had broken things off with Rebecca. Not that it made him feel any better.

At that moment the shower turned off. Jason grinned and chugged his beer. "Your three minutes are up. I'll let you off the hook for the drink if you buy me breakfast. Emotional crap makes me hungry."

Present

"Is that a road block?" Carlton demanded, voice incredulous.

"Looks like it," Danny replied. He slowed the jeep, noticing that Burk palmed his gun as the uniformed man approached.

"Morning gentlemen. I'm Officer Reilly with the Columbus Police Department. Welcome to our fair city. What's the purpose of your visit here?" Although Officer Reilly's voice was friendly, it also booked no argument.

"I'm looking for the Smith family – Donald and Marsha Smith and their daughters Brittany and Susanne," Danny replied, pulling out his military ID. He glanced past Officer Reilly at a second roadblock a bit down the road. "What's going on? You having an outbreak? We're carrying doses of the cure if you need some."

"No, sir, we managed to avoid infection here in Columbus for the most part. Lost a few good souls enforcing the quarantine, though."

Danny and Carlton exchanged glances. They had seen this before, towns that took a hard line approach to the quarantine, closing the town borders, becoming isolationists. While Danny could understand the rational, and it had undoubtedly saved lives, turning away families, children, the sick and elderly, took a heavy toll on those tasked to enforce the line. The second roadblock could have only one purpose – anyone failing to obey the "turn around" order would be prevented from reached Columbus by any means necessary. The only surprise here was that the roadblocks were still in effect.

The man squinted at Danny. "Says here that your name is Green. What's your business with the Smith family?"

Danny's jaw tightened. "I was their son's commanding officer. I am here to make a notification."

Officer Reilly's face turned somber as he returned Danny's credentials. "I'll radio ahead to let them know that you are coming. I don't know the Smith Family but someone at the station should be able to help you out." The man paused. "I was a marine myself, once upon a time. It's a good thing that you gentlemen are doing, letting them know in person. Lot of people here have loved ones missing. Hate to think that they might never know what happened."

An hour and an unnecessary detour to the fully functional police department later, Danny and Carlton pulled up before the light green two-story colonial with a wide wrap around porch. Danny had been here only once before, to attend the thirtieth birthday party that Jason's family had thrown for him despite Jason's insistence that he didn't want one, but Danny would have known the house anywhere. The image was burned into his brain, along with a hundred other memories of Jason, Steve and Frankie. As the jeep came to a stop, Danny recognized the man sitting on the porch.

Donald Smith. Jason's father.

Donald rose as Danny and Carlton exited the vehicle, Jason's flag tucked under Danny's arm, before turning towards the porch door. "Marsha, you should come out here."

Marsha, Jason's mother, appeared in the doorway, dishrag in her hands, only to stop short at the unfamiliar vehicle. Her face lit up for half a second when she caught sight of Danny, her eyes moving past him to the jeep behind, before understanding struck. Nobody else was exiting. Danny felt his chest compress as Marsha's legs crumpled beneath her, Donald catching his wife and easing her into the chair that he had just vacated.

Danny walked towards the couple, not breaking eye contact, until he stood face to face with Donald. He stretched out his arms to present them with the flag that he had carried since Gitmo.

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I am sorry to inform you that your son Jason Donald Smith was killed in the line of duty."

The silence stretched on and on and on until Donald finally moved, his hand reaching out to grip the flag. Danny didn't know what he expected. Perhaps for Donald to rage at him – the man that should have brought his son home alive. Or perhaps for Donald to turn and leave, to retreat into the house to grieve in private, shutting Danny out. But Donald did neither of those things.

Instead Donald set the flag down on the porch table and waved Danny towards the spare chair. "It's good to see you, son. Introduce us to your friend and tell us how you've been."

Before Danny realized it two hours had passed and he and Carlton were sitting at the kitchen eating chicken salad sandwiches with the entire family, the conversation focused on anything and everything except for Jason.

"This is delicious, ma'am. Seriously the best thing I have eaten since we left Norfolk," Carlton mumbled around a mouthful of chicken salad. "You should get the recipe for Kara, Danny."

"Kara?" Marsha asked.

Danny paused uncertainly. He had just informed these people that their son was dead, that Jason would never get married or have children (not that Jason had shown any inclination to do so while he was alive, but his parents had never given up hope). Mentioning Kara felt like an slight, giving the Smiths a glimpse of a future that Jason would never have. "My wife. I got married a while back. We have a little girl."

"I remember Jason saying that you had a long-term girlfriend," Marsha replied, nodding approvingly. "Not like Steven. That man was a dreadful flirt. That's why I told my girls to stay away from him. Do you have a picture of your little one?"

Danny pulled out his phone to find a picture of Frankie, ignoring the way that Brittany and Susanne exchanged glances. Danny was fairly certain that Susanne and Berchem had hooked up at Jason's birthday party but he wasn't going to point that out to Marsha any more than he was going to correct her misunderstanding about who he had married. "This is my daughter."

"She's beautiful," Marsha responded, a smile playing along the corners of her mouth. "So little. It must have been hard for you to leave her."

Danny cleared his throat, unwilling to entertain that train of thought, especially given what had happened during his absence. "We should get going. The rest of our team is in Dayton and we need to get back to them before nightfall."

Donald trailed them to the jeep, and Danny turned to the older man, holding out his hand. "Sir, if there is anything I can do to help you or your family, please let me know."

The man clasped Danny's hand, then stopped, staring at his house. "I didn't want to ask in front of the girls but … how did he die? Was it the Red Flu?"

God. The echo of his exchange with Jason and Steven echoed through Danny's head. It's probably comments like that that led to your divorce.

"Have you heard of Doctor Rachel Scott?" Danny asked finally.

"Of course. She's the woman who discovered the cure to the Red Flu," Donald responded instantly.

"When we left Norfolk last year, Doctor Scott was on board the Nathan James. Our mission was to protect her. We were in Cuba for supplies when the Russians found us. They had us pinned down and demanded that we turn Doctor Scott over to them. Jay and Steve were killed helping us escape. Your son died a hero, Mr. Smith. Saving everyone on that ship. And by saving Doctor Scott, he helped save the world."

Tears gleamed in the older man's eyes as he shook Danny's hand again. "Thank you, Danny. Thank you for letting us know."

Danny hesitated. "I cannot tell you how sorry I am about Jason."

Donald swallowed. "I still have two of my children. I am damn thankful for that."

Ten minutes later, Carlton gazed out the jeep window as Columbus disappeared from sight. "You didn't want him to know what really happened."

"Jason was his son. He doesn't need to have nightmares about how he died."

"I shouldn't tell Rick, should I?"

"About what the hospital record says?" Danny asked, although he knew the answer already. "Nope. He's in enough pain. He doesn't need any more."

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A/N - next chapter is Teylor Cruz and you get to find out how Cruz and Caro met.