You know when you have a plan to do one thing, but then you sit down and start writing and something completely different comes out?

Well, that's what happened here.

Let's go visit the dark side, shall we?

The following warnings apply NSFW, maybe a few tissues, and keep the glass filled...

As usual, I only own the bad grammar and punctuation...sad, I know.


It's you, babe
And I'm a sucker for the way that you move, babe

And I could try to run, but it would be useless
You're to blame
Just one hit of you, I knew I'll never ever, ever be the same
I'll never be the same

Never Be The Same - Camilla Cabello


Dalton and Jaz were concerned about McGuire. They'd tried everything they could think of to get him to get some rest, or at the very least eat something, and nothing had gotten through. Not even a direct order.

He was determined to stay by Preach's side until he woke up, and god forbid if that didn't happen.

Jaz had tried to reach out to Hannah, but her phone had gone straight to voicemail. At this point, they were at a loss in terms of what else they could do.

Amir had gone back to his room to get some rest leaving them to watch over McGuire and Preach until his wife arrived, and Patricia had made the trip out to the base to meet their flight.

Dalton hoped that McGuire would finally get some rest once Preach's wife and kids arrived, but he was no longer certain that would make a difference.

Jaz was beside herself, and Dalton was obviously never going to be happy when she was hurting. She and McGuire were always close, but after she lost Elijah, the two of them had become even closer. Most of the time they hovered around a tight-knit sibling's kind of relationship, but when things got tough, it was easy to see that their bond was forged in steel.

The reality is they all were; it's why this team worked so well.

In fact, as Dalton thought about it, McGuire was the steel that held them all together.

He had been the bridge when the team was still trying to figure out Amir and how he fit with the group. McGuire had accepted him right out of the gate no questions asked.

McG had been a rock in Tehran, even when Dalton was going off the rails. He'd put up with a lot of ups and downs and put out fires along the way. He'd also on more than one occasion patched up every member of this team. McG understood and appreciated Preach's philosophical ramblings better than any of them.

And Dalton wasn't sure where he would be if McGuire hadn't been there for Jaz in Tehran and especially after. He'd physically put her back together, but he'd also been there for her emotionally.

The bottom line is he was the common thread among them. They all had their moments, and each member of this team was integral to the rest, but McGuire was the constant. He never took sides, he never made snap judgments, and he always had everyone's back.

So to see him carry this burden by himself was something he hated to watch.

McGuire was blaming himself for a situation that was not of his making. If that blame landed on anyone, it was on him for not realizing the danger Hoffman posed to his team and Patricia for not being more forthcoming about what, or who they were dealing with.

Dalton knew he should have pushed harder. He should have insisted Patricia tell him everything. He felt confident that things could have been very different if he'd known exactly what kind of threat they'd been dealing with.

The team would be getting ready to head to DC, and then back to their homes and families. Not sitting here standing vigil over one of their own.

Dalton didn't think the blame belonged with McGuire, but he was struggling to find any way to convince him of that. So, he was just standing in the hallway watching his friend tear himself apart.

His thoughts were interrupted as Jaz joined him. Dalton turned and wrapped his arms around her as she spoke.

"We have to get him to get some sleep," Jaz said. "It's been like four days since he's had a good night of sleep. Since Verina went missing really. He can't keep this up."

As he listened to her words, he caught the movement at the other end of the hall. It wasn't Preach's wife that had drawn his attention, it was the person who wasn't supposed to be there.

Hannah Rivera was pushing her way through the crowd when she stopped by Amir who pointed her towards Dalton and Jaz.

She looked frantic, and her focus was on finding one person. It certainly wasn't him or Jaz. He couldn't help the smile as a lot of the anxiety he'd been marinating on for the last little bit started to fall away.

"What the hell are you smiling for?" Jaz asked him.

"I think I have a solution to this problem."

Dalton watched Jaz as she turned and it was impossible to miss how her body language changed. Relief flooded through her the same way it had for him when she saw Hannah.

He knew Hannah being there was just what McGuire needed. He was sure of it.

Hannah couldn't fix everything for McGuire, but he was confident that she could get him out of his head because that was a really lonely place in this kind of situation. Dalton knew that all too well.

"Where is he?" Hannah asked as she approached.

Jaz and Dalton just pointed towards the door behind them, and she took another step in that direction before McG was standing in the doorway looking stunned.

Dalton watched him as disbelief, and then just pure unabated joy washed over McGuire. But the second Hannah had wrapped her arms around him everything crashed in on him.

Guilt for being happy, fear for Preach, disappointment in himself. It was more than he could handle and his knees just gave out, but Hannah was right there with him.

Jaz wrapped her arms around Dalton as they watched McGuire finally give in to the emotions he'd been holding down for so long. Exhaustion followed closely on its heels as Hannah just held him until he'd purged himself of everything.

McGuire had asked Hannah the question Dalton had been dying to ask, the answer had been Amir. He'd been the one to call her and make sure she was on that flight with Preach's family. It was the right call, and Dalton needed to make sure he thanked him for doing that for McG.

Dalton knelt beside McGuire after a few minutes passed and told him that he and Jaz would keep an eye on Preach and let them know if anything changed. When they saw that he was going to relent and allow Hannah to take care of him, Dalton stood and offered him a hand up.

They watched as the pair made their way down the hall. McG had stopped to speak with Mrs. Carter and Patricia before stopping at Amir. He didn't know if McGuire said anything, but he saw the shock in Amir's eyes when he was pulled into a hug.

Once they were out of sight, Dalton and Jaz headed over to Amir.

"That was a nice thing you did," Dalton said.

"I was worried about him. He needed something none of us could give him."

Jaz pulled him into a hug then shocked him as she kissed him on the cheek and said, "You continue to surprise me."

Amir smiled and even blushed a little.


Once Preach's family arrived, the room started to get a little crowded, so Amir and Patricia headed back to their rooms to catch a few hours of sleep. Mrs. Carter looked like she needed a few minutes, so Dalton and Jaz took the girls to the cafeteria to get some ice cream.

The good news is they didn't realize how bad things were, but because of that, their mother was at her wits end with three girls full of energy and the oldest two bickering back and forth.

Dalton suspected Preach would laugh at the two of them and lay some deep wisdom about how people come and go in your life, but sisters will be by your side forever.

Dalton smiled as they sat out in the courtyard with Jaz running around playing tag and purposely letting herself get caught by Preach's youngest, as he played the middleman sitting between the older two.

They continued to bicker for a bit, but they eventually joined in on the game of tag leaving him to his thoughts.

It's funny he remembered a couple months back he and Jaz had been talking to Preach about his daughters and they'd both said they didn't want to have kids, but as he watched Jaz running around with Preach's daughters he couldn't help but think about what kind of mother she would be.

She'd be the cool mom Dalton had no doubt. She'd be the one that could play catch with their sons just as easily as she could have tea parties with their daughters.

Theirs.

There it was again.

He smiled to himself because he'd been so sure he'd never wanted kids. He didn't want to risk being the kind of dad his was.

Of course, Dalton knew that was ridiculous because he'd made a point never to drink in excess and he kept his dark side on a tight leash until it was time to let it off.

He'd done that with Hoffman, and he knew he'd have to tell Jaz what he'd done when they finally had a moment alone. Dalton couldn't keep it from her; he could already feel it burning a hole in his gut, scratching and clawing to stay at the surface.

If he kept it in, he knew it would just get harder to bridle the rage that burned in his gut. It was always there, it had been for a long time, but he'd always found ways to keep it locked down.

Until it was useful to him.

With Hoffman, it had been tearing at his skin from the moment they'd first brought him into the bunker. Dalton heard it buzzing as that rage pounded through his bloodstream pleading to be set free.

It was that feeling when your mouth goes dry, and the bitterness lingers on your tongue as you try to swallow it down. There always comes a point when there is no spoonful of sugar that makes it go down easy.

For him, that point came when he watched his best friend die, or when he was watching one of his own struggling to fill his lungs with air. When they listened to Victor firing shots that he'd been certain were tearing holes in a sixteen-year-old girl. When he watched Alex go at Jaz.

The monster inside of him had wanted to cut the bastards tongue out just for speaking to Jaz. But, it was Dalton that wanted to feed him his own eyes for the way he leered at her.

"Adam," Jaz said as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

He shook off his thoughts as he focused on her and the three girls who were huffing and puffing and wearing tired smiles. It was time to get them inside to their mother.


Jaz and Dalton had taken over sitting with Preach so that his wife and Daughters could get some sleep. It was the first time the girls had been out of the country and the time difference was bound to wreck havoc on their systems.

They'd sat in relative silence for the last few hours with Jaz dozing off against his shoulder when he saw Amir and Patricia heading down the hallway towards them.

Dalton stood and carefully leaned Jaz's head against the back of the couch so he could check in with them.

"We thought we'd come sit with him so you two could get some sleep," Amir said.

Dalton nodded and glanced at Jaz who was sound asleep.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." He said as his phone started to ring.

It was Hannah looking for an update, so he let her know there had been no change.

She'd mentioned that McGuire was still sleeping and Dalton thought it was best to let him sleep for as long as he could. It had been far too long since he'd gotten a good night's rest and he knew that the stress and long hours weren't likely to dissipate overnight, so they all needed to take advantage of whatever downtime they could find.

With that in mind, he walked into Preach's room and picked up Jaz who was still dead to the world. She snuggled into his shoulder as he turned to leave the room, but she didn't wake up.

Dalton made it all the way back to their room and set her down on the bed as he stripped down to his boxer briefs. He carefully removed her shoes and socks thinking Jaz was going to wake up, when she didn't he carefully went about removing her pants and finally her shirt and bra before he slipped one of his t-shirts over her head.

With that done, he lifted her in his arms enough to pull the blankets back and settled her before climbing in behind her and pulling her into his chest.

"I Love you Jazzy." He whispered as he pressed a kiss to her forehead and finally gave in letting his body shut down.


Dalton woke up to the feeling of being watched a few hours later. When he opened his eyes, Jaz was staring at him.

"Were you going to tell me what you did when you left the bunker that night?" She asked.

"Yes. I was. I am..."

"Tonight? Or am I going to have to wait until this boils over? Do I need to be worried? I mean I'm sure he's dead because I knew there was no way you would let him walk away unless he killed you. Do you know how that feels? Do you know what that did to me?"

"Jaz..." He started, but she put her hand on his chest, she wasn't done yet.

"I called and called, but you went dark. No one could find you. I knew you went after Hoffman. I knew you wanted him dead, but I was terrified that somehow that rage that bubbles and hisses in here," She said as she stabbed a finger into his chest. "Maybe it wasn't going to be enough. What if his dark side was just a shade darker than yours?"

Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she pressed her lips his chest, "I can't build a future with you if you can't let me see everything, even the ugly parts. I'm not afraid of the dark, Adam. The only thing I'm afraid of is losing you!"

Dalton hadn't thought things through when he went after Hoffman. He didn't worry about what Jaz would think, or what would happen if Hoffman had gotten to the apartment first. What if he'd been the one sitting at the dining room table? It didn't happen that way, but it could have.

"I'm sorry Jaz. I let my rage blind me to the consequences; I didn't think about what might have happened if Hoffman had gotten the drop on me." Dalton said.

"I don't want you to be sorry. I'm not questioning why you did it. I already know why. You were protecting your family, and I can't say that any one of us might not have done the same thing. I just want you to talk to me. I need you to know that I love you. I love the man you are with me, and I love the man that lives beneath the surface. The one that comes out when there are no good options left. That's the man that saved me in Tehran, and that's the man that I have no doubt ended Alex Hoffman for good this time. I love that man, too." Jaz said as she punctuated her words with a searing kiss.

Dalton felt like she had reached in and removed the last partition that separated them. She'd seen the man behind the curtain, and she loved him anyway. For the first time in his life, he'd let someone all the way in, and it didn't feel oppressive, it felt like freedom.

There was a weight that came with hiding pieces of yourself from the world. He'd accepted that before he was even six years old. It's what he knew.

But, for once in his life, he was going to let someone help him carry that weight. Dalton told her everything.

He told Jaz how when he was little; he hid the bruises and the pain. And when he got old enough to fight back, he had to hide the rage, too.

At first it just simmered beneath the surface, but eventually, it became so much bigger, and it was harder for a teenager to contain. That's how he wound up in military school. By the time he was in Fallujah, he'd found himself feeding that rage like it was some rabid animal living inside him.

After that, Dalton found ways to contain it. To shove it down and keep it hidden. Now, it only reared up when his family was threatened.

And make no mistake, Hoffman had been a threat. So, he told her about him, too.

"Jaz, the beast it's always in here, it can be soothed, or it can be fueled, but it will never be silenced not completely." He told her as he ran his fingers through her hair and pressed his forehead to hers.

"I am alive because that beast resides in here." She said as she laid her hand against his chest.

"I love you." He whispered as he kissed her forehead and pulled her into his arms.

"I love you, too."


Dalton woke up hours later to a familiar voice. It was someone who had woken him up countless times with that imitation of a construction zone that they labeled snoring, but this time it was something else altogether.

Jaz woke up just a couple minutes later and started laughing as she figured out what was going on.

"I guess McGuire and Hannah are in the next room?" She asked.

"Sounds like"

"Mmmm. You know what they say?" She asked as they were finding it harder and harder to tune them out.

They were laughing as the pair got more vocal, and a lot more vigorous.

Dalton wanted to be annoyed, but he could hear Jaz's breathing pick up and her fingernails scratching against his skin as she tangled her legs with his.

He could think of far worse ways to deal with this situation than where she was headed currently.

"Join them," Dalton suggested as he yanked his shirt over her head and latched on to her nipple.

"Oh...yeah." She hummed as she threaded her fingers through his hair.

Dalton climbed over her as he settled her on her back before moving to her other nipple.

"Your skin is so soft; I love the way it feels against my tongue." He said as he sucked hard on the sensitive flesh of her breast and watched as the skin turned an angry shade of red.

He knew that would leave a mark, but she was scraping her fingernails against the nape of his neck as he did it, so he knew she was enjoying how it made her feel.

"I need to make you cum Jaz." He said as he let his fingers trail down over the front of her soaked panties.

It had been days since he'd touched her and even longer since they'd had sex. Alone time was at a premium in the bunker, and they'd spent the last several weeks going from one mission to the next with safe houses often lending even less in the way of privacy.

He wanted to taste her so bad his skin was prickling at just the thought.

"First, I want to taste you; then right as you're about to cum, I want my cock so deep in you that I can feel you ripple and clamp down on me."

"Shit, it's really hot when you talk dirty to me," Jaz rasped as she scraped her nails over his cheeks before pushing him down towards her pussy.

"Mmmm. You want that don't you?" Dalton asked.

"Wait." She said as she sat up abruptly and pushed a hand to his chest making him fall onto his back.

"What are you..."

"Off." She said as she pointed to his boxers.

Dalton was all too happy to comply as he watched her shimmy out of her panties.

They both snickered as they heard Hannah and McGuire ramping up. Mostly McGuire, but they knew he wasn't in there by himself, so Hannah was guilty by association.

Of course, Dalton forgot all about them when Jaz leaned down and took his cock to the back of her throat.

"Ohhhhh Fuuuck." Dalton moaned as she pulled almost all the way back before repeating the move.

"What happened to me tasting..." He started as he threw his head back and moaned when she hummed an incoherent response.

He could feel cum starting to leak as she squeezed the base of his cock and he had to put an end to this because the only way he wanted to cum was inside her.

She felt the ripple of his abdominal muscles under her fingers a second before she was in the air and landing softly against the pillows. Jaz pouted as he flashed a wicked grin and leaned in to take her lips in a blistering hot kiss.

A second later he sat up and grabbed her by the thighs spreading her out before him. His lips closed over her clit forming a tight seal as he sucked hard on the little nub.

"Mmmm, Adam."

He stared up at her as he hungrily licked and sucked at her clit until her eyes started to close before he slowly eased two fingers into her. She was already soaked.

"So sweet." He hummed as he lapped at her greedily.

Jaz was rolling her hips as she threaded her fingers through his hair while he pressed a third finger into her.

"Oh, holy fuck." She cried as she adjusted to the full feeling.

"Is that good baby?" He asked.

She shuddered as he pressed his fingertips against her g-spot and he grabbed her free hand in his pressing both of their hands against her pelvis increasing the sensations tenfold.

"Better?" He asked.

She didn't answer she just tightened her hold on his hair and started to whimper incoherently.

He could feel the burn in his right arm as he started to stroke hard into her pussy and her walls began to flutter violently, she was going to cum any second.

So was he.

He had no doubt that he could cum just watching her, but he wanted to be inside her.

So he worked her as hard as he could until he thought she couldn't take another second, he pulled his fingers from her and wrapped them around his cock giving it a jerk as a drop of pre-cum landed on her thigh.

"Oh fuck." He growled as he watched another drop fall.

He was so close to coming that it was like the constant drip drip drip of a faucet. It didn't help when she let her fingers rub through it carrying it up to her lips.

Dalton slipped his arms under her knees and lifted her towards him slamming his cock into her on one fluid stroke. The instant he bottomed out he was rewarded as she went rigid and clamped down hard, she was already coming around him.

"Oh Jaz, god you feel so good." He hummed as he started to slam his hips against hers.

"Adam. A-dam. Oh, fuck yes, Adam." She cried as he kept fucking her through her orgasm.

He rubbed his thumb over her clit as he pounded into her with brutal force and she begged for him to give it to her harder. He could feel his muscles burning with the exertion, but he couldn't stop, she was soaking wet, and her eyes were glassy as she stared at him. He knew Jaz was on the verge of losing her mind.

Dalton was dying to get her there.

"Fuck, fuck. Oh, A-A-A-dam." She bellowed as she shoved his hand out of the way and started to rub her clit as fast and hard as her fingers would allow.

A second later her back bowed, and her legs started to shake violently as he felt her go liquid around him and her eyes rolled back.

Dalton happily lost his battle as he slammed his hips home one more time and let go.

"Jesus Jaz. Oh Fuck," he growled as she fluttered and shook through both of their orgasms.

When Dalton let go of her legs, she fell back to the bed in a spent heap as he laid down beside her. He ran his fingers down the inside of her thigh and watched as she shuddered. When he let his fingers dance over her pussy, she squeezed her legs together.

"You still with me?" He asked.

"What the fuck did you just do to me?" She rasped as she put her hand over his and held it still.

He didn't get a chance to answer as they heard, "Baby if I fuck you any harder, it's gonna leave a mark."

Dalton and Jaz burst out laughing.

"Uhhh, fuuuuck." McG shouted. "Oh god, nothing feels better than when you cum on my cock."

"Well, he's onto something there," Dalton said as he scraped his teeth over her shoulder.

Jaz just laughed, "all kidding aside, that was..."

"Amazing?"

Jaz turned towards him and ran her fingers through his beard before she kissed him and said, "No, it was like an out of body experience."

"How so?" He asked as he leaned up on his elbow.

"Like, I started to cum and then it was like being at the top of the drop on a roller coaster and hitting pause. You have that high, you know like when your stomach is about to drop, and the adrenaline is spiking, and everything feels heightened?"

"Mmmhmm. I'm with you." Dalton said as he traced circles over her hip with his fingertips.

"Only when you hit pause, those feelings they keep growing. It was like being suspended in this incredible orgasm and then when you started to...all of a sudden everything started again, and it was just like an explosion, only I felt it from my head to my toes. Like a, like a supernova." She smiled as she pulled him to her for a kiss.

"You looked gorgeous. Like you were about to lose your mind. It was fucking incredible." He told her between kisses.

"Has that ever..."

"Happened before? No, but I kind of like having some firsts with you. I thought all my firsts were out of the way a long time ago." He said as he kissed her.

"Oh, fuck. FUCK!"

"Jesus McGuire! That's like twice in what, thirty minutes?"

She laughed, "yes, because we've never done that."

"Good point," he said as he climbed over her and laved over that hollow at the base of her neck that made her purr. "How about this time we take it slow and easy?"

"Mmmm. I kind of like it when you're all sweet and gentle." she hummed as she wrapped her legs around his ass and pulled him into her.

Dalton gave her a languid kiss as he let his hips rock against hers.

She hummed her approval as she pushed up onto her knees before she took his cock in her hand and slid back onto him.

She loved hearing the sharp intake of his breath as he placed his hands on her hips and slowly pulled her hips back against his.

"Fuck you look so good like this," He said as he set an easy rhythm.

They didn't feel the same kind of urgency now, so they just rocked together as they danced close to the edge for several minutes.

"Mmmm." Dalton hummed as he ran his hand down the curve of her spine.

When his hand traveled back up, he wrapped his hands under her arms until they clasped the front of her shoulders and he pulled her up, so her back was flush against his chest.

The angle made her gasp as he rubbed against that sweet spot that felt so good and his hands quickly gravitated towards her breasts.

"You feel so tight like this," He said as he kept working that slow, steady rhythm while he pinched her nipples and took her mouth with his.

He loved how intimate this felt with her whole body pressed against his. Dalton's right hand was wrapped around her torso as he rubbed delicious circles on her clit while his left kneaded her breast, and his teeth and tongue went to work on her neck.

She could feel the haze of pleasure starting to wrap itself around them building up slowly as she reached back and raked her fingernails over his thighs.

"Adam?"

"Hmmm?"

"I want to see you."

He let her go and helped her lay back against the pillows with her hair fanned out around her. She looked stunning, and he knew he'd never get tired of seeing her like that with her pink cheeks and kiss stung lips.

Dalton laced his fingers with hers and held them just above her head so that nearly every inch of their bodies came in contact with the others. He never took his eyes off of hers as they rocked together stealing each others breath and giving it back as their lips met.

When he started to feel that telling little flutter, he reached down and pressed her knees to his hips so that he could drive a little deeper, a little harder. Dalton knew just what she needed to topple over that edge, and he would be right there with her.

They didn't have a long history together, they'd only ever made love a handful of times, but they read each other like they'd spent decades learning how to give and take pleasure from one another.

It wasn't explosive, but it didn't need to be.

It was soft and slow as the warmth spread through them. They felt it like a dull current as it traveled through their hands and burned in their eyes. It was in the friction of their lips as they brushed together, their hearts beating in sync and the gentle rock of their hips.

It was the perfect calm after the storm, and they had weathered everything it had thrown their way.


Less than an hour later Dalton's phone started to vibrate on the nightstand.

"Dalton." He answered.

"Preach is awake," Patricia said.


Hope you liked this one. I didn't intend to get as far into Adam's dark side as I did here, but I liked where it went, so here it resides...