Two months later, Sonny glared at Clay as they stood outside in Virginia Beach. He leaned over and whispered, "if she thinks I'm going to salute her, she's fucking delusional."
Clay lifted an eyebrow. "I think she'll make sure you have to salute her." He looked at his sister, at the front, as it was her day and got a smirk on his face. Knowing Kelsey, she would make damn sure that Sonny saluted her as she didn't give a shit about rank when she was around the Team usually but with the amount of eyes on them, Sonny would have to salute an officer.
Kelsey hadn't been told really the full deal of her ceremony. Captain Lindell, of all people, had showed up on their doorstep three nights prior, and requested her to be in uniform of the day, which was her MARPAT cammies and made a special request for the Senator and Michelle to be there. That wasn't a hard request as Michelle had spent the good first month after Walter Reed in Virginia Beach, taking care of Kelsey has Clay had been in Somalia for over three weeks and Sloane was working full time. Kelsey had no idea what she would have done without Patrick's mom, so when Captain Lindell asked for the father and mother-in-law to be there, all it took was one phone call to Dan's chief of staff.
Blackburn ordered everyone in attendance to attention, which was quite a few people. All support teams, as well as Alpha and Bravo, were in attendance. Promotion ceremonies within the teams were handled pretty quietly so everyone was wondering what was up.
"Two months ago, in a classified operation, Bravo Team rescued two Marines' from Pakistan. We have been informed that Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek and Corporal Luis Rodriguez have been awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V as well as Lt. Vanderhoek being awarded the Purple Heart for their extreme bravery under the worst conditions that some of you have experienced. While it is customary to do it within their chain of commands, the powers that be have decided that since the SEALs pulled them out of Pakistan, it should be us giving them their much deserved awards," Captain Lindell explained. Bravo knew it was because Kelsey didn't have a real chain of command right now. "Commander Blackburn, will you please have the honor of pinning Corporal Rodriguez?"
Kelsey had been shocked to see her battle buddy at Dam Neck earlier that morning and that's when she got her indication of what was going on. Rodriguez snapped to attention and saluted Blackburn and then smiled for the obligatory pictures of getting his Bronze Star before returning to his seat.
"Lt. Vanderhoek," Blackburn said.
She tried her hardest to stand to attention and salute him, although that was hard with the walking boot still on her left foot.
"It's my honor to give you this," Blackburn said.
"Thank you, sir," Kelsey said, as Blackburn pinned the two medals to her chest. She tried hard to keep a straight face the entire time. She was about to do a tight 180 and walk back to her chair when he stopped her.
"That's not the only reason you are here. A little birdie, I mean Ensign Davis, might have been scrolling through the list that the Marine Corps put up of promotable 2nd Lieutenants," Blackburn said. "We typically don't make promotions a big deal around here," a chuckle made its way through the crowd. "But given today, we are going to have a promotion ceremony. So it's my honor to call up your brother and your mother-in-law, Michelle Shanahan, to pin you to 1st Lieutenant."
Blackburn handed them the dark bars for 1st Lieutenant as they both took off the gold "butter bars" and instead pinned the bars for 1st Lieutenant. Again, Kelsey had a hard time not smiling and keeping a straight face as some of the most important people in her life were pinning her. Obviously Blackburn and Lindell knew what they were doing when they asked Michelle and Clay to do it.
After Clay returned to formation and Michelle returned to her seat, Blackburn turned his attention to her. "I was going to have you raise your right hand but since we are making a big deal out of your promotion; Senator Shanahan would you mind giving your daughter-in-law her promotion oath of office?"
It was clear that wasn't part of the script because Dan chuckled but came up quickly. "It would be my pleasure," he said, facing Kelsey. "Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
"I, Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek, do solemnly swear that I will support and defence the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
"That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."
"That I will bear true faith and allegiance to do the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."
"And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
"And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
"Congratulations, Lieutenant," Dan said, shaking her hand after she was done and then completely throwing all protocol out the window, giving her a quick hug. It was a damn good moment, Kelsey decided. For not being a photo person, she silently hoped someone got a photo of it. It was pretty damn cool to have her father-in-law read her her first promotion oath of office to 1st Lieutenant, have her mother-in-law and brother pin her and her brother's commanding officer hand her the two awards she had gotten.
Kelsey was returning to her and Clay's apartment later that day to change out of her uniform and meet Dan and Michelle for dinner. They would all go out for drinks later, Dan said he'd pay for a round or two, in which Bravo was more than willing to hit up Bulkhead. She did manage to get Sonny to salute her, much to her dismay. Everyone laughed. She opened the door and almost dropped her keys. It wasn't her husband sitting on her couch, but almost the next best thing- Victoria.
2nd Lt. Victoria Thompson just smiled as she stood up from the couch. "Surprised?"
Kelsey dropped her bags and hobbled over to the living room as fast as she could to give her best friend a hug. "More than surprised. Two nights ago you practically couldn't get off FaceTime quick enough because you said you had to pack because you were running flight ops for two weeks of some carrier."
Victoria shrugged. "I lied. Clay had texted me about 10 minutes before that FaceTime."
Kelsey's jaw dropped. "My brother?"
"Sometimes he can surprise us all," Victoria replied, as Clay and Sloane walked through the door next.
"Thanks," Kelsey said to her brother as he put his own keys on the table. "But you're a bastard. I'm assuming my lovely in-laws know as well?"
Sloane smiled. "They do."
"You guys successfully orchestrated one hell of a surprise, that's for sure."
Clay gave his sister and then Victoria a hug. "I'm just glad it all worked out. Sloane and I are going out for dinner with some of her friends and then we'll meet up with you at Bulkhead tonight."
"Sounds good. I told Michelle I'd be at the restaurant in half hour."
As Kelsey put a little bit of makeup on and Victoria laughed at her attempt to do so, her friend looked down at her left hand. "You're wearing your rings," Victoria commented. Normally Kelsey wore a simple silicone band since her and Patrick had gotten married. She had said more than once that she didn't know why they spent the money on actual rings- even though she really did like both of them. And she had also said she didn't know why she had two rings really- they had been engaged a day before deciding to get married.
"Yeah, why?"
"You left them in Oceanside and I know you sure as hell didn't take them to Afghanistan and I think I'd know about a little side trip to California given the fireworks it would cause," Victoria pointed out.
Kelsey raised her eyebrows. "You've met my mother-in-law. And from being a Colonel's wife for 20 years she knows how to get shit done within the military. I was still in surgery at Walter Reed when she called Jon and then called the movers and had my shit shipped to the house in Alexandria. Rings, uniforms, everything is now at their house. Some of it has migrated here but the majority of it is there. I don't have much anyways since Lord knows my mom and I moved so much that I learned not to keep a lot."
Victoria looked surprised. "Wow. That is impressive. What did Jon say when Michelle called him?"
"Well Michelle called him under the auspice that it would be easier to have my stuff shipped to Virginia now that they are in Alexandria, Clay is in Virginia Beach and any future Intel schools would either be in D.C. or here in Dam Neck. She also told him that I got transferred out of 1-1 and Pendleton but she didn't tell him my new orders."
"Your step-dad has to have some feelings about that," Victoria commented.
Kelsey shrugged. "Probably. Still haven't gotten there yet in my issues to talk to him."
"Have they made you see a psychologist on base given everything that transpired in Afghanistan?" Victoria asked as they started to get ready to leave the apartment.
"I saw one for a session or two at Walter Reed which was the minimum I had to. Still working through the issues."
Kelsey was in her first week of classes at Counterintelligence school when things came crashing back down on her. In a very real way. Some how Brigadier General Bennett knew that her convalescence leave worked out perfectly from the time she had surgery on her foot to when she started- she only had 2 weeks left in her walking boot and then she could get it off. And that couldn't come soon enough. It was driving her crazy- even more than the first time around of having a walking boot. Typically con leave was only for 30 days but because she had been "hospitalized" twice, she was able to extend it to 45 days, which is exactly when CI school started.
She was rounding the corner, heading to her car when she saluted a Lt. Commander. And then she saw someone she didn't want to see but was expecting to see. NCIS. "Ma'am," she said, cautiously.
"NCIS Special Agent Jenna Cowan. Can we talk?"
Kelsey laughed. She could think of a few things NCIS could or would want to talk to her about. "About what?"
"Can we go inside and talk?"
"Or?"
"We have a conversation at NCIS offices at Norfolk."
That told Kelsey that this was a demand, not an ask. So this was either about a leak investigation, but she also highly doubted that because Clay had yet to be approached. So that left NCIS poking around about Captain Fall, the JAG investigation and Afghanistan. "I'll talk, but not without legal representation."
Jenna raised an eyebrow. "Do you have something to hide Lt. Vanderhoek?"
"Nope. I just know better. So either you can fly Captain Jonah Marshall back from Afghanistan to be my JAG representation or you can wait 24 hours and I will get ahold of my civilian attorney."
Jenna shook her head. "We talk now."
"All I will divulge is my rank, name and serial number until I see the legal representation of my choice in the room. It's my fucking right, Agent Cowan."
The NCIS Agent handed over a card. "Here's my number. You or your lawyer call me. If I don't hear from you in 24 hours, I'll arrest you for obstruction."
Kelsey took the card but rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
It wasn't until later that night, after the gym and telling Sloane she just wasn't feeling well and that's why she could barely lift anything, that she realized why she was shaking. Agent Cowan's appearance was bringing up a whole host of memories of Afghanistan that she didn't want to deal with.
She found herself not driving to her and Clay's apartment, but instead to Ray and Naima's house. She didn't know why, but she knew she needed the advice from the Bravo 2IC.
Naima opened the door to see Kelsey in uniform, as she had worked out in uniform, at her doorstep, walking boot still on. "You look like hell, Lieutenant. It's 20:00, what are you still doing in uniform."
"I don't know," she replied honestly. Sloane asked her the same but her response was pretty short- she couldn't lift heavy anyways so she was too lazy to change into workout clothes.
Naima opened the door more. "Come in. Have you had dinner?"
Kelsey shook her head. "No. I'm good though."
"Good Lord, child," Naima shot back. "Homemade chicken noodle soup okay? Jameelah was sick the other day so I made some."
"Naima, I'm fine. Really."
Naima immediately went to the kitchen. "You came here, you're eating. End of story. Sit down."
Kelsey did as she was instructed. "Are you just going to work?"
"In an hour or so. I try and not work nights too much but with you guys stood down right now, it's a lot easier."
Ray came into the kitchen with an odd look on her face. "Babe, she's not Bravo."
Naima gave her husband a look that said he should probably shut up and he wisely did. She placed a bowl of soup in front of Kelsey at the kitchen table. "Eat. Talk to Ray and get whatever is off your chest."
Ray was silent as Kelsey dug into her soup. Finally he spoke. "I didn't know you knew where I lived."
"You had a barbeque here once. Or shall I say, you and Naima hosted a barbeque."
Ray nodded. "That explains how you found your way here but not why you are here in my kitchen, eating my leftover soup."
"NCIS fucking sucks," was all she said.
"What is NCIS poking around about right now," Ray asked, inquisitively.
Kelsey put more soup in her mouth. "I dunno. I refused to answer their questions without my lawyer present."
"I bet they were thrilled with that."
"Beyond."
As Kelsey's sat there, quietly finishing her soup, Ray's warning bells and flashing lights went off his head and he figured out why she was here at his kitchen table, eating his soup. He had a few questions though. "Why not talk about this with your brother? That's the one question I've been wondering. I know you came to me when you were in Afghanistan but everything is in the open now."
Kelsey stood up and put her dishes in Naima's dishwasher. "Different points of view. Clay and I think a lot alike when it comes to this sort of stuff. He's a little more reactionary but we think a lot alike."
Ray seemed to take that as a reasonable answer. "Your brother was pissed when I brought on a new guy instead of his friend. I brought Vic on because he thinks opposite to Clay and Jason and a little more like me."
"I can appreciate that. Why do you think I married my husband? Other than the fact that he's the only man who will ever okay with his wife being more badass than him? He keeps me grounded. I could never marry someone who has mine or Clay's attitude because it would be a disaster."
"This is obviously about NCIS poking around about Afghanistan and something has you rattled."
Kelsey sat back on the couch that Ray showed her to. "The debrief I was given at Walter Reed."
"The Corps debriefed you at Walter Reed?"
"No. Defense Intelligence Agency with an JAG who was an Army Major with the necessary security clearance in the room. It centered around my AAR that Jason made me write."
"That one."
"The one that the DIA Agent said 'came from a place of pissed off, frustration, anger and was not to be taken lightly or to be taken at all.' His words, not mine. That fucking debrief was almost worse than the fucking torture I went through in Afghanistan."
Ray rubbed his chin. "You never said what happened in there."
"What do you think happened, Ray? Besides the fact that I didn't get raped which is something the DIA Agent spent a lot of time on until the very nice Army guy told him to back off. What do you think happens in the house of horrors."
Ray tried to think of the next thing to say. "Never been held captive for longer than 3 hours."
"So do I have the worst luck on planet earth that I'm in country for 5 weeks and get captured and then tortured or are you just extremely lucky?"
He pondered that question. "I think you got sold out by your commanding officer and the CIA."
"The next questions will be from JAG and a request for me to stand as a witness at Fall's trial."
"Fall still hasn't gone to trial? Court-martials usually don't take that long?" Ray asked.
Kelsey shrugged. "A lot of this information is highly classified and most of the major players are either dead, still in Afghanistan or not allowed to talk. Making it a hard case for JAG to prosecute."
"Do you think he'll be prosecuted?"
"Captain Marshall would not have recommend any of those charges if he didn't think it had a chance of sticking. I don't actually know what JAG charged him with. Don't want to know."
"Interesting that you don't want to know."
"Coping mechanism."
"Have you talked to your husband lately?"
Kelsey sighed and looked at Ray's TV that was muted but was playing Paw Patrol. "My husband is a special forces guy. I don't expect to talk to him when he's outside the wire, which he has been for the past while, and certainly don't expect to talk about the shit that's going on in my head when I can talk to him."
"I think he'd appreciate talking to you."
She gave Bravo 2IC a dirty look. "You've been out of communication for weeks from Naima. Can you honestly say that you would want to hear about torture from your wife the time that you can contact her? I'm the spouse at home, I'm the one who's supposed to have shit together, Ray. If anything, I should be listening to him when he can contact me."
Ray understood what he was saying. She was in such a hard position because he got her side too, as an operator which she was essentially, it was really important to talk to the person you trusted and loved which was her husband. And the fact that she couldn't made it really hard. "You're in a rock and a hard place with that one, kiddo. But I think you should let Patrick know a little what's going on at home. Don't pretend it's all puppies and rainbows going on at home."
"He's not an idiot, he'll guess."
"Maybe talk to the other Spencer too."
Kelsey buried her hands in her face. "Sloane is pretty fucking perceptive and she's giving me those looks of maybe something isn't alright and as you said, maybe my life isn't all puppies and unicorns as I'm pretending."
"So, talk to her. From the bit I've met of Clay's girlfriend, she has a good head on her shoulders, she can handle you unloading on her and she's done a tour in the sandbox. She herself isn't immune to the horrors."
She groaned. "The CIA made this thing so classified it isn't funny. That's the problem. I'm talking about it with you because you were there. You saw the intelligence. You saw Fall in his element. Sloane knew I went missing, she was there when Briggs called Jason from what Clay told me. Past that, no one has told her anything. Because it's been fucking classified."
"Well that did she say when you had surgery at Walter Reed and you've been staying in the apartment?"
"To me, nothing. Michelle drove me home to the apartment and there were fresh sheets on my bed. I don't know what my brother told her."
Ray sighed. "While I am completely fine with you coming by to vent and talk things through because you need to and you are more than welcome here. I think you need to find a psychologist on base with the necessary security clearance to help you out. If you want, I can do some digging and find out who some of the guys may or may not talk to."
"I'd appreciate that. I thought about going to see someone off base but then I realized I can't because of the security reasons. That and I don't think dealing with torture and the after effects is someone they are well versed in."
"Go talk to someone," Ray said.
Kelsey stood up. "I appreciate you listening."
Naima came in from the hallway. "From a special operator's wife to another, tell your husband what's going on. He'll appreciate it."
"I will, next time I talk to him."
Ray paused as Kelsey got to the door. "Where the hell is Recon operating?"
"When he showed up at Salerno when I was taken, he alluded to Clay about operating in a country that he wasn't allowed to operate in. My guess is one of the other 'stan countries."
As Kelsey reached for the door, Naima spoke again. "You're always welcome here, Kelsey. To talk, to sleep, whatever you need. You're family to Bravo."
"Thanks Naima, I appreciate it."
Kelsey had a bad habit of keeping her phone on loud all the time, except for when she was in class now. And when her phone went off at 4 am, she reached for it. Her first thought was that Victoria had met a guy in a bar and she was calling Kelsey to tell her about that. And if that was the case, it was a now Thursday morning and she was going to kill her best friend.
What wasn't her best friend, was her husband asking for a facetime call.
"Hello," she answered groggily as she pressed okay for the FaceTime call.
"Jesus, what time is it there? And where are you?"
Kelsey laughed and looked at her clock on her bed stand. "4:12 a.m. I'm in my bed in Virginia Beach."
"Oh shit," Patrick said.
Kelsey turned on her lamp. "No, I'm glad you called."
"I just got back from a long term mission," Patrick subbed and rubbed the full beard he had going.
Kelsey laughed in the semi-dark room. "I can tell. I've never seen you with a full beard."
"I can't wait to shave," Patrick muttered. "I don't think I've not shaved this long."
"I like it."
Patrick rubbed his face again. "How are you?"
"It's going. I get the boot off in two weeks."
Patrick stared at the phone into the FaceTime. They might have only been married a short time, and been apart for most of it but he knew his wife. His wife never used the words 'it's going' when it wasn't absolutely going horrible. If anything, she said it was going fine all the time. "Kels," he began to say.
"Babe, I don't know to do this," she said.
And that's when he knew his wife was really struggling. They were not overly affectionate, certainly not with their words. She had made the first move while they were 2nd Lieutenants at The Basic School and she had told him when they first started 'dating' that she hated saying those three words of I love you. She still wasn't very physically affectionate in public either when they were together. Patrick could count on one hand how many times she had called him 'babe'. "What's going on?"
"One word that covers it all: deployment."
Patrick looked around and then back at the phone. "Yeah, I guess that does sum all of our problems up. Have you talked to anyone."
"Ray's going to ask around his side of base for a psychologist that some of the guys have talked to that has the clearance to talk to."
He sighed. And then changed the subject. "Christmas in two weeks. Where are you going this year?" Last year, they were butter bars at TBS together and barely knew each other. She had spent Christmas in California.
"I think I'm going to Pensacola."
"What the fuck is in Florida?" Patrick asked.
Kelsey had to remind himself that her husband had just come from a three week mission and wasn't really thinking clearly. "Victoria. She doesn't want to go to butt fucking nowhere Nevada so Christmas in the sun sounds not bad."
Patrick groaned. "Fuck, Kels. Call Mom. Spend Christmas with the family. Bring Victoria."
"I'm not spending Christmas with my in-laws without you there," Kelsey shot back.
Patrick rolled his eyes. "Did you forget who took care of your ass while you recovered from surgery? Mom. Fucking call her and spend Christmas there. It won't be as warm but come on. Please."
"Fine, I'll call your mom."
Patrick rubbed that beard again. "I gotta go write some after action reports. You were my first thing on my mind after I stepped off the helo."
"Thanks for calling me. I love you."
"Love you too."
Kelsey looked at her phone, 4:28 a.m., and decided to just get up. She made her way to the kitchen and started making a full breakfast. Thank God for Sloane, they had groceries, so she decided to make pancakes and bacon. At 4:45 in the morning.
Shortly after she started cooking, she heard the bedroom door open and heard Clay walk into the kitchen. "What the fuck are you doing making pancakes and bacon at 4:45 in the morning?"
"Long story."
"Seriously? What the fuck is making you cook at before 5 in the fucking morning Kels?" Clay asked, in basketball shorts and no shirt on, leaning on the door frame.
Kelsey flipped some bacon than finally answered. "My husband can apparently grow a decent beard."
Clay finally approached her. "He called?"
"About half hour ago. I decided to just get up. Sorry for waking you."
Clay shrugged. "Sloane kept rolling around so I didn't get a good night sleep anyways."
"Being deployed was easier. Being deployed together was a hell of a lot easier."
Clay sighed. "I agree, being deployed is a lot easier than being home. But that is not the problem here."
"No, it isn't. The problem here is that nobody understands how it is to be quote on quote a special operator while also having a spouse deployed. I'm getting advice from all sides and quite frankly, all of it sucks."
Clay smiled. "Nobody knows your relationship except you."
"Patrick brought up an interesting point. What are you doing for Christmas? It's in two weeks and we haven't talked about it."
"We haven't booked flights but Sloane and I are going to Sioux Falls."
She raised an eyebrow. "For a girl you aren't dating, you sure about spending Christmas with her family?"
He glared at her about her bringing up his relationship status.. "And what are you doing?"
"I was going to get on a Space-A and spend it in the sun in Pensacola because Tori doesn't want to go to Ely for Christmas with her family."
"Where's Ely?"
"Middle of nowhere, Nevada. 3 hours from Vegas. But my husband put a stop to that. And is making me call Michelle. So I am passing on the inevitable invitation to spend it in Virginia with your basically family."
Clay took a piece of bacon. "Why'd Patrick put a stop to you going to Pensacola? Does he not trust you?"
Kelsey glared at him for taking the piece of bacon. "No, you idiot. He thinks I should be with family instead of on a beach alone with Tori, drinking our sorrows away. Which honestly, sounds like an awesome idea."
Clay pondered that. "I'll mention Virginia to Sloane. She's not crazy about South Dakota. Hey, isn't Parker getting back from his cruise right before Christmas?" Cruise meaning a boat ride on a Navy ship which was no one's idea of a fun cruise. Navy Lt. Matt Parker was on a two month deployment to Australia and then taking a lovely boat ride back to Norfolk.
"I feel like a horrible friend for forgetting that, but yeah. I guess I should mention to Michelle that he's coming considering he has no family."
"Parker has no family?" Clay asked.
"He has a brother he somewhat talks to but when he came out and started dating his last boyfriend, I forget that piece of shits name, his parents disowned him."
Clay just shook his head. He thought Parker was actually a really cool guy but Clay always felt that Parker never should have been a logistics officer and should have been sent straight to Great Lakes to train recruits- he was that type of Navy Officer. "You sure Michelle is going to be okay with us crashing Christmas?"
"She was a Colonels' wife. I'm sure this is just another Sunday."
"Are you going to the gym this morning?" Clay asked. "I'll go with you if you are; to remind you that you are on limited duty."
She shook her head. "Nope. I'm meeting my lawyer for breakfast, which come to think of it, I should text him and change that considering I'm already having breakfast and then going to NCIS at Norfolk."
Clay looked at her wide eyed. "You called Mickey Crawford?" Mickey Crawford was a hot shot defense attorney that typically took on defense contractors and the likes as clients.
"Dan said I could; he's paying the bills. I wanted Captain Marshall but apparently that is a no go getting him to fly back from Salerno to be my legal representation."
"Does NCIS know who your lawyer is?"
"Nope. I just texted the special agent in charge that I would be at Norfolk offices at 8 am, whether she liked it or not. She threatened me with obstruction if I didn't show up today."
"Sounds like a peach. Am I going to get a visit?"
She shrugged. "I think it's about Fall, not about the leak investigation. I'm not sure why she's asking. Everything is in the debrief I gave the DIA Agent at Walter Reed."
"Wanna bet that debrief has been classified? NCIS wants to bury Fall and you do too so cooperate," Clay reminded.
"Oh I'll cooperate," Kelsey said. "Anything to bring Fall down." She took the pancakes off the frying pan. "Eat up."
Christmas was an event and a half. It ended up being Kelsey, Victoria, Matt Parker, Clay, Sloane, Carley and her boyfriend, Dan's bodyguard Lopez and Lopez's son, Manuel, who happened to be an Air Force Staff Sergeant stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, along with Dan and Michelle. A full bowl alphabet soup of the military- all they were missing was the Coast Guard representation. Even Lopez was a former Marine. Michelle laid down the law and said no military talk unless there was a terrorist attack or someone got new orders, which was highly unlikely given it was Christmas. And they pretty much stuck to that. And it was some of the best times Kelsey and Clay had ever had. She just wished her husband was there but she was pretty damn thankful for his insistence that she and Victoria not drink their sorrows away on a beach in Pensacola and instead come to Arlington.
Kelsey was doing homework around 6 pm, in the lounge, of her side of the base at Dam Neck five days after New Years. She was also trying to avoid NCIS Agent Jenna Cowan, who she knew was looking for her. Jenna was going to tell her that she was going to be a witness for Captain Fall's trial and Kelsey wanted nothing to do with reliving that, despite wanting Fall to go down. Lt. Matt Parker had come by to bug her and stayed, on his phone until she was done. He was a logistics officer for a Carrier Strike Group at NAS Oceana, so they worked on the same base; just different sides of it. And then Clay walked in.
"Squids usually don't come to this side," Matt commented, noting Clay in uniform.
Clay shrugged. "You're a fucking squid, Parker. But I know. I feel slightly dirty being over here but I need my sister. And she wasn't answering her phone."
"It's on do not disturb," she answered, no apology in her voice. "What's up? Did you track me?"
He held up his phone with his "find my friends" app open. They also were on the same phone plan, in the interest of saving money, so he could track her from there. "Yeah. I need you in the ops room."
"Ops room?" she repeated.
Matt stood up. "You have fun with that one."
Kelsey slowly stood up and nodded her goodbye at Matt and then followed her brother slowly to his side of the base. They put their phones in a cubby before entering the secure area. "What's going on?" she finally asked.
Blackburn nodded his hello at her. "How well do you speak Dutch?"
"It's my first language so fluently."
"Naval Intelligence has asked for you for an op," Davis explained.
Kelsey looked at her brother and then Davis. "Why me?"
"Because you're young, hot and can speak the language they need," Davis said.
"Okay, I'll buy that even though I dislike being used as a pawn like that but I guess I have to look forward to that my whole career. But what I'm curious is if Naval Intelligence is involved and they got MCIA to loan me out, why are you guys briefing me?"
Blackburn sighed. "Because what they need out of Rottherdam is important enough and they need someone to babysit you so the powers that be decided that a Tier 1 team should be the one to do it."
"So I'm doing the talking but I'm talking muscle with me?"
Davis laughed. "Yeah."
"Do I get to pick?"
Blackburn shook his head. "No," and there was chuckles around the room, however, none of them knew who was going to Holland.
Davis sighed. "Jason is staying home and you are not being partnered with your brother. Despite how well you two probably work together, we are not putting you two in the field together for the first time. Ray will be running point and Brock has the dog. I think Kelsey and Vic would work extremely well together but no again on the green and green thing. So rock, paper, scissors for Sonny, Trent and Full Metal."
"No," was the choruses from the three of them.
Blackburn looked at them. "Fine. I'm choosing then. Full Metal, you're going with Lt. Vanderhoek."
Full Metal looked at his commanding officer and then the Lieutenant. "Why me?"
"Because you have the experience as a team leader, you have the experience undercover and you can pass for her sugar daddy boyfriend," Blackburn said.
Sonny burst out laughing. "Sorry, man, but that was hilarious. You'll have so much fun."
Ray shook his head. "Naval Intel sent over the target package to us. I don't think its going to be a hard grab."
"Does Naval Intel have why they require me to grab this asset and why six guys can't just stuff this person in the back of a van in the middle of the night?" Kelsey asked.
Ray was looking through the target package. "It's not a snatch and grab. We will discuss it in the air."
"This is flat fucked. When do we leave?"
"Two hours," Davis said. "Vic will go home with you and you can pack a bag."
"I'm taking that as translation of don't do anything stupid in my two hours, don't talk to anyone and pack a bag of my skankiest club outfits I can find?"
Sonny laughed again. "Spencer, I've always liked your little sister."
Blackburn shook his head. Kelsey was something else, alright. This was going to be a fun mission. "Yes, that's the translation. And before I have to say anything, let's play it smart this mission. I do not want to have to explain how we fucked up a simple op to Naval Intelligence."
Everyone shared a look around the table, one that said this mission may not be as easy at the target package Naval Intelligence sent over.
AN: I mean, what could possibly go wrong on a simple op in the Netherlands?