Hi Everyone, thanks for still reading, hopefully no one is getting bored. I keep thinking up what should come next and then end up writing something else. Pretty certain when I first started writing this fan fic only half of these chapters were going exist but hopefully you're all still enjoying it.

The ship was calm, the crew were tired. Tired and grieving. The last few hours had been manic, even for Danny it had been something completely new. He'd seen first aid posts but they had been different, more organised, more medics. He'd realised once they'd gotten back on board that they were never going to save Bivas or Chung, they were too hurt. In Afghanistan there'd been a chain of evacuation but here, this was the end of the chain. The stark reality was that this was the end, there was no surgeon, no hospital a helicopter ride away – this was it. You could either be fixed by Dr Scott or Doc Rios or probably not at all. The flats were empty, there were a couple of people still in the hanger, clearing it up. Wolfe had stayed behind to prepare Bivas' body for a burial at sea and Kara had volunteered to stay with him. He'd managed to catch her eye across the hanger and he'd seen the smile of relief on her face when he'd walked in but he'd not had chance to talk to her. This was not about them, this was about their shipmates, they'd find time later. He still had to write up his report from the mission, speak to the Captain and find Burke. Their last conversation hadn't gone well but he was still his friend. In all honesty Danny wasn't sure which conversation he was least looking forward to, the heart-breaking conversation with Burke or the conversation with the CO. Danny moved into his cabin, he needed to change his clothes, they smelt of sweat, blood, smoke and dirt. He found Tex laying on his stomach in his pit.

"Hey," Danny nodded towards him. Tex turned his head,

"Hey,"

"Did the nice lady doctor fix your butt?" Danny asked him, sniffing under his arms, He really needed a shower but there was no time, so he just sprayed some deodorant.

"Well, she was coming over to see me and sort me out, then your friend….. Tom…. collapses and she rushes over to see him. I'll tell you, some people will do anything for a bit of female attention. You'd never catch me doing that." Tex said with mock indignation. Danny laughed through his nose and pulled a clean on.

"Yeah, right." The material felt clean and fresh against his skin.

"But Doc Rios, he gave me some good pills, might have one now." Tex knocked a couple of capsules out of a bottle onto the bed and threw them into his mouth. Then he read the label, "Hmmmm, tramadol, apparently I'm not handle heavy machinery but nothing on here about firing a weapon, so we're all good." He drawled.

Danny took the bottle out of Tex's hand, '2 capsules every 4 hours." The label read.

"Did you have some of these in the hanger?" Danny asked, frowning at Tex.

Tex laughed, "Nah, jab o' morphine up there."

"hmmm, well," he said putting the bottle in lipped shelf next to the sink, "no more for four hours," he told Tex with a point of him finger.

"Aye aye, Captain," Tex replied with a grin, casually saluting Danny.

"I mean it," he told Tex. He wondered if this would be what it would be like to have a teenager, not really the ideal time to start practising his parenting techniques.

"Hey Danny –Boy, you know you'll know you're going to be a good dad, right?"

Danny looked at him, it was like Tex had read his mind.

"Why do you say that?"

Tex squinted at him, it reminded Danny of his Uncle Max who always drank far too much before Christmas dinner then spent the whole meal, making no sense.

"Well, y'know, you're good with your team. If you treat your kid like you treat your men, then you're going to be fine."

Danny had to turn away and faced the sink, he wasn't sure he was doing a good job. His team were dead, was that a good job, had he really been taking care of them?

"Like today, you got us all off the rig." Tex continued, "ah, that pain in my butt is slowly fading." He took a deep breath and noisily breathed out.

"It was hard loosing Frankie and then I had to give you his bunk but, Tex, you're….. I couldn't ask for someone better. I….." Danny gripped the sink as he thought of what to say next. Maybe it was the intensity of the day, the reflection taking place - that it could've been so much worse. He liked Tex and he was a friend, a close friend now, with some fatherly advice mixed in. Danny didn't often do bromance but at this moment in time it felt the right thing to say, "Over the last few weeks, I've….." he paused looking for words, "really appreciated your friendship and I feel like…." Finding the right words was hard, he turned to Tex, "you're like my brother, my weird older bro…." he stared at Tex, who laid passed out on the bed, "….ther" he smiled to himself and Tex snored loudly.

The tannoy crackled to life. "Lieutenant Green report to the XO's cabin." came the pipe. Danny sighed, time to get back to work and have one of those conversations he knew he wasn't going to be to avoid.