Gideon walked in to the medical bay nodding at the nurses in the front reception area working on charts and talking to each other. He knew a few of them by name now, and they easily smiled at him. He continued down a hallway and turned the corner to the ICU. When the nurse behind the security desk looked up and saw him, she also smiled.

"Good morning Captain, go right in." She hit the buzzer to unlock the door and Gideon stepped through, thanking her as he did. He hated this section. It was dreary, full of beeping noises and men and women connected to various tubes and machines helping to keep them alive.

Two weeks had passed since they'd rescued Mitchell. Two very long weeks. Gideon had been given a leave from field work so that he could be closer to Mitchell. His team had also been given leave and they had used the time to work on other projects at Atlas. Gideon and Joker were training new recruits, Ilona had asked for a permanent transfer to Gideon's team and gotten approval from Gideon and Irons. Once their team was whole again, they'd be back out. There was no denying that his team was unique to other Atlas teams. They were a unit, and only death would separate them.

As he moved into the low-lit area where the nurse's station was a young woman saw him and welcomed him.

"Good morning sir," she said. Gideon stopped at the desk, asking her how Mitchell was doing today, and if he could see him.

"He's still in and out, but he's been very restless. We've had to keep him sedated to keep him calm so he doesn't hurt himself. In fact he's due for another dose in a few minutes. You might want to go in before it wears off completely." Gideon nodded at her and said his thanks, then moved over to Mitchell's area. The blinds were half drawn and the lights low, presumably to keep the atmosphere calm and relaxing.

He stepped inside and looked over at the bed. Mitchell laid there, not really moving, eyes closed. IVs ran from both arms, and he saw his whole arm was still being restrained to the bed. The thick, padded leather cuff around his wrist was attached to the bed rail, and if he lifted the sheet he knew he would see identical ones around his ankles. Despite being told it was to prevent Mitchell from hurting himself it made Gideon angry. Gideon looked over at the other arm, still having a hard time seeing where it ended midway down the forearm. It was heavily bandaged still, even though most of it should've healed by now. His physical injuries had healed within a day once he was given something to counteract the suppressant that was in his system. However it was the psychological injuries that would take time, and the doctor's warned Gideon it wouldn't be easy given the kind of torture he'd endured.

He stepped over to the bed and grabbed the chair, moving it closer. He sat down and unbuckled the cuff, rubbing Mitchell's wrist to sooth the skin. Entwining his fingers into Mitchell's he let out a small sigh. "Hey kid, wanted to see how you were doing. You look better, not as many tubes in you today. That's good." Gideon rubbed his face with his free hand, he wanted his partner back. He felt helpless, not being able to do anything. All he could do was be here and talk to him. One hand still in Mitchell's, the other hand went up to curl his hair behind an ear, and he rubbed Mitchell's cheek with the back of his finger. "Joker and I ran some sims with a new batch of recruits today. Most of them seem like they'll work out. Ronin will take them out tomorrow to run them on the ranges, see how they do there."

Gideon continued to talk to him when Mitchell began to toss his head, murmuring something Gideon couldn't make out. "Hey kid, shhh, its ok," he said, but Mitchell began to really get agitated. He began thrashing and yelling out and Gideon knew he was deep in the throes of a nightmare. He hadn't seen Mitchell do this before since he was usually sedated when Gideon was there. Gideon was trying to talk to him to calm him down and he saw the nurse poke her head in, see the commotion then run back out, probably to get the sedative. Acting on instinct Gideon pushed Mitchell over slightly to the other side of the bed and then climbed up next to him and wrapped his arms around the man, pinning him somewhat. With one arm tightly around him, he used his free had to caress Mitchell's face.

'Shhh kid, I've got you. You're safe now. No one is going to hurt you anymore.' Gideon kept sending reassuring thoughts to Mitchell through their link and continued to softly caress his face. Mitchell began to calm, breathing heavily but the thrashing stopped. It was as if he knew he was in his mate's embrace. As he felt Mitchell calm down he relaxed his grip around him so that it didn't feel threatening, and instead provided enough grip to hopefully make Mitchell feel safe. It seemed to work, Mitchell's breathing began to slow and Gideon could feel his heartbeat slow down to normal. Mitchell rolled into Gideon and tucked his head into Gideon's chest, and Gideon felt like he'd stay like this for as long as it took to get his mate back. He had Mitchell's hand in his and he bent down and placed a kiss on Mitchell's knuckles. He still had his arm wrapped around Mitchell's back and decided to get comfortable, he wasn't going anywhere.

One week later

Gideon walked into the med unit again but headed the opposite direction of the ICU. This time he headed down to Post-Op. He'd gotten word that Mitchell was out of surgery and awake and he wasted no time heading down. He'd been on pins and needles all day and basically useless to everyone. Joker took over training at one point and ended up telling his Captain to go to the gym, or the track, or anywhere else for that matter. So he was almost jogging when he got to Post-Op and pushed through the double set of doors and headed to the nurse's station.

"Captain, he's awake and asking for you. He's in 104." A rather large, dark-skinned nurse pointed in the direction of Mitchell's room. Gideon did jog now until he came to room 104. The door was open, but he leaned in to see if Mitchell was indeed awake.

"Jack?" He asked quietly. Mitchell turned his head at Gideon's voice and smiled. Gideon moved in to his bedside and grabbed his good hand. He took in the dark circles under his eyes, but it was the bright blue that drew him in. "Hey kid, how are you feeling?"

"I'm ok," he said quietly. "Tired and sore, but ok." Gideon smiled at him, just so glad to have him conscious and back in the world of the living. He looked over at Mitchell's arm, propped up on two pillows. He was heavily bandaged in the middle of his arm, but a new prosthetic hand emerged from the bandages. Gideon ran his fingers over it.

"What's it feel like?" he asked.

Mitchell shrugged. "Dunno, can't feel it yet. Doc says it'll be a few days for the nerve endings to heal and make the connections complete. Then I should be able to move it. Can't really do it now."

"Maybe now is the time for me to challenge you to some pool so I can win my wages back from you, eh?" Gideon said with a smile. Mitchell laughed at that. "Not a chance. I'll still kick your ass."

Gideon was relieved to see Mitchell laugh. He knew the kid still had a long way to go to work out the demons of his imprisonment, but it was a start. And Gideon would be there the whole way. He just wanted to get Mitchell out of the hospital and bring him home. He'd already arranged for bigger quarters so that they could share them.

"Well I just want you to heal up so we can get you out of here and back home, I'm tired of lugging my ass all the way over here to see you," Gideon joked.

Mitchell chuckled at that. "Please, you're probably flirting with all the nurses while I'm in here." Gideon laughed with him, it felt good. Mitchell tried to scratch his arm where the prosthetic was through the bandages. "God this thing itches like hell," he groused. Gideon made a mental note to sneak something long and skinny in for him. They spent an hour together before the nurse came in and kicked Gideon out. The woman was huge. She was probably as wide as Gideon was tall and her face said she didn't take shit from anyone.

"You need to go now Captain. Mitchell needs a bath before the doctor comes in to check on the implant." Gideon's eyes glowed at that and he couldn't pass up the chance to tease Mitchell. "You know, as his commanding officer, I should probably stick around for that to make sure nothing happens." Mitchell choked at that and his face flamed. The nurse turned around and pinned Gideon with a stare.

"You will do no such thing Captain. In here I outrank you little man." And with that she poked him in the chest and pushed him out of Mitchell's door. She turned back to Mitchell and winked at him. "That boy is seriously a randy thing. You sure you can handle him? You know you a lot bigger than he is, don't forget that." They both ended up laughing, Mitchell knew that nurse Genevieve looked scary as hell but was an absolute doll. She'd been teasing him all week about Gideon and about how "cute they were" together.

Another week later

Gideon sat back on the couch in the common room holding his beer and just enjoying the evening. His team had wanted to throw a welcome home party for Mitchell and he wasn't about to say no. So he sat there and took it all in. Mitchell had come home four days ago and Gideon felt whole again. Mitchell was still on medical leave as he continued therapy for both the new arm and to help him overcome the after effects of his torture. He still had a long way to go, but he was at least on that road to recovery.

He watched as his mate stood by the window, everyone wanting to check out his new hand. He was keeping his eye on Mitchell to make sure he wasn't feeling suffocated, but he seemed to be doing ok. Mitchell kept looking at Joker and Ilona and shaking his head. He was shocked as hell when Gideon told him about the pairing. Then he'd laughed for a solid 20 minutes over it. The pair had finally completed their mating and now it was almost painful to watch. Gideon was pretty sure he was developing cavities from it.

More than just his team had shown up. Bravo and Charlie teams were here, and so were some of the nurses from the hospital, including the big scary one. But she winked at Gideon when she'd arrived and kept calling him "sugar". The party was in full swing and everyone was having a good time. Gideon got up for another beer when Torres came up to him.

"Hey Captain, great party man," he said. Gideon clapped him on the shoulder in greeting, noticing the tall man next to him. "Glad you came, this was a good idea. I think we needed this." Torres nodded. "Yeah, we definitely did. Hey I want to introduce you to someone." He pulled the other man over. He was good looking, strong and had chiseled features with a day's worth of scruff. "This is Connor, he runs with Walker's crew over at Special Forces."

Gideon raised his eyebrows as he shook his hand. "You're a Ghost? Phew, I've heard of you guys. I'm glad we're on the same side." He'd heard of the Ghosts - that was an elite team you didn't want to be on the wrong side of. Connor nodded his head as he shook Gideon's hand. "Yeah, I've heard the same about your crew as well Captain. I'm glad to see he's in good hands," Connor replied as he indicated Torres. Torres looked at Gideon, then at Connor, and back to Gideon. "Connor is also my mate," he said quietly.

Gideon was shocked to say the least. He'd had no idea Torres was even seeing anyone. But he was happy as hell to be honest. He grabbed Torres' hand and shook it as he patted his shoulder with the other. "Congrats man. How long?" Torres smiled at Connor. "We've been together a while now, but only recently discovered the mating. Since Connor is not part of Shadow, I wasn't sure what would happen, but it seems it doesn't matter. Mates are mates." Gideon was truly happy for his teammate.

Joker suddenly appeared, looking a bit tipsy. "So, dude, did you tell him? Huh?" Torres rolled his eyes at Joker. "Yeah man, I told him." Joker grinned and high fived Torres. "Now we gotta get Ronin hooked up!" With that statement Joker stumbled off, apparently to play matchmaker. Mitchell then walked up to the trio, sliding an arm around Gideon's shoulders.

"Hey Mitchell how ya doing?" Torres asked. "How's the new arm working out?" Mitchell held it up, waggling his new fingers. "It seems to work. Irons told me it was top of the line. I'm eager to get back out and test it." When Torres introduced Connor as his mate, Mitchell was also genuinely happy for the men. When Gideon told him about Joker's plans to find him a mate Mitchell laughed.

"Well I think he won't get far on that little mission. I think Ronin already has someone." When Gideon and Torres both raised their eyebrows in a "what the hell?" look, Mitchell just smiled. One of the ICU nurses received several visits from Ronin. They seem to be sweet on each other. She's a cute little thing, totally opposite to his big, scary look."

Gideon just smiled, it looked like his team was whole, in more ways than one.