Kelsey awoke in Rotterdam the next morning to the hotel door opening and remembered she didn't sleep in this hotel room alone, although she did have the bed alone. Her first instinct was to reach for the gun underneath her pillow and then she saw the man coming through the door. "It's not even 6:00 a.m. and we are supposed to be on vacation," she muttered.

"You strike me as the type to get up at 05 00 every morning to go work out," he replied. "And I'm just doing my part as your boyfriend to bring you breakfast in bed. And put the fucking gun down."

She narrowed her eyes at him as she got out of bed. "Right. I totally believe that one. Do you even have a real name? All I've heard you referred to as Full Metal or Metal."

He handed over the bagel he got her. "Scott."

"Well thanks for the breakfast, Scott," she said as she started eating it. "What's the real reason for bringing me breakfast before 6 am?"

"Making sure nothing suspicious was out there. And Clay said you are a fucking bitch without your coffee in the morning."

Kelsey almost spat out the coffee she was drinking. "Well I won't argue that one. But we do have a full team of tier 1 operators in this hotel watching for something suspicious."

Scott ate his bagel and then turned to her. "You really think that you that hand off between the contact and you is going to go off this easy?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You really have this much misgivings about this op?"

He shrugged. "Having suspicions about Naval intel is a healthy life choice."

"Point taken."

He looked out the window and then looked at the operative he was working with who was sitting in the chair. "You okay to operate in the field?"

"What the fuck kind of question is that?"

"I'm your partner in this op, I can ask."

She shrugged. "I'm fine, Scott."

He crossed his arms, coffee in hand and looked at her. "I don't know if you remember, but I pulled you out of that house with Jason and Ray. I saw the look on yours and Rodriguez's faces."

Kelsey shook her head as she finished the bagel. "I don't need to relive what happened, thank you very much."

"Kinda tells me that maybe you are not okay."

"I compartmentalize. Isn't that what all of you do. Is it because I'm a fucking woman that ya'll are seriously wondering if I'm okay? If I was a guy, you wouldn't be asking this damn question!"

Scott looked at the window. "As your partner on this op, yeah, I think if you were a guy I'd be asking the same damn question. Look, Kels, I've been there and I've lost guys as a team leader. It's not something you just bounce back from. At all. I put my own blood into Keller and Ismet did CPR on him in that shack in Pakistan to try and keep him alive. I know. I fucking know. I fucking know how lucky you and Rodriguez were to walk into her house and not some jihadist who wanted to kill Americans on premise."

She rubbed her ring finger where her ring wasn't there. She had taken her rings off when she went home before she left. "Yeah, maybe that's what is haunting me. Losing Bauer and Keller. I was their Lieutenant. I'm responsible."

"No, the CIA is responsible. But this is what bothers me about you being back in the field so soon. Naval Intelligence never should have asked for you until you were cleared."

"I technically was," she said softly.

Scott rolled his eyes. "Because I believe that. Like it or not, you're not a battle hardened operative and the fact that you were tortured and lost two men on a routine patrol on your first deployment will stick with you. My job, as much as I hate it, is to make sure nothing happens to you on this second op. But I need to know if I can trust you not to crack under pressure." It was more talking this morning that he had done in six months he figured but he had experience in this stuff and she didn't.

"I'm good. Get the flash drive, get the fuck out. We're all good."

Ray looked at Clay as he took watch. He could get used to these city assignments. Pipe hitters like Jason and Sonny hated these types of assignments but Ray- after 18 years in the Teams, he didn't mind the easy ones in the city. But then again, sometimes these ones were the hardest. It wasn't a break through the door, kill the bad guy and get out situation. The nice thing about the city assignments is that they usually had decent sleeping gigs and for that Ray, was thankful.

"Anything happening out there?"

Clay shrugged. "Metal went for breakfast."

"Blackburn told him to order room service," Ray shook his head.

Clay shrugged again. "He came back with two coffees which means he took my advice on supplying my sister with coffee first thing in the morning."

"You gotta have some feelings about your sister being in the field again," Ray said.

He rubbed his face and then turned to Bravo 2IC. "Oh I have them."

"About her being in the field or working with Metal?"

"Both."

"Her husband has to know what goes on with being an intelligence operative," Ray asked. "I've met the guy and Patrick ain't stupid. There's no way he's naive to the fact of what goes on for a female intel officer. Mandy's going to have that conversation with her."

Clay shrugged. "I don't think they've had that conversation yet. I don't know how they are going to make it work, to be honest."

"You have doubts about their marriage?" Ray asked. That was the first he had heard about Clay having doubts.

"Kelsey was gunning for MARSOC when she started but I can't see her on that career path any longer. DIA is going to pick her up soon. And Patrick is probably going to go MARSOC Raiders if he stays in. Two classified careers? You tell me Ray, but I don't see how that works. I can't tell Sloane that much, although she's pretty smart and can guess, but at least she can tell me a lot about her day. And I like hearing about her day. Those two won't be able to."

Ray continued looking out the window. "I can't imagine anything harder."

"But I also can't imagine her with anyone but him. Patrick is good for her."

"Hard to have a career like that in the military like this and a marriage. Man or woman," Ray observed.

Kelsey finished adjusting her wig and rechecked her fake eyelashes. With the dark hair wig and the heavy makeup, Davis had confirmed yesterday on the plane through a trial run through of makeup that she looked nothing like her normal blonde self who never wore makeup except for maybe tinted moisturizer and mascara on a good day. "It's go time."

Scott looked down at his watch. "Wheels up in two hours. Let's roll."

She pressed the earwig that was in her ear, meaning she was now on comms with everyone. "Havoc Base, this is Sierra 2. Bravo 6 and I are leaving the hotel room." Davis had given her that call sign- it stood for Spencer 2. Kelsey was highly unimpressed. The guys found it hilarious. Metal was Bravo 6 for this go round as Clay was running as Bravo 2 with Ray being 1.

"Sierra 2, good copy," Blackburn said. "Get the flash drive, get out."

As Scott and her grabbed hands, to be the happy tourist couple they were supposed to be playing, they both exchanged that look that said this wasn't going to be good. They had a pre-determined meeting spot to meeting their contact, who they had no idea was, at a bridge in Rotterdam. From there, they would take the flash drive to the police department where someone from Naval Intelligence would hopefully be waiting. They were supposed to report Kelsey's purse being stolen at the police department. The contingency plan if they couldn't get to the local police department, was to take the flash drive straight to the plane. She still didn't know why this required her, despite her language skills, and a Tier 1 team. This was more of a CIA interns work or someone just coming from the Farm.

They got to the bridge and spotted the contact, or who they assumed was, based on the picture Naval Intel supplied. "2 o'clock, approaching from the west side," Kelsey said.

"Got him," Sonny replied. He, Ray, Clay and Vic were trying to blend into the crowd. Trent and Brock were milling about around the hotel, in case someone followed up on where Kelsey and Metal were staying and they fact they had set up operations in the hotel.

And then something happened. Their contact stopped approaching. Instead he decided to hand off the flash drive to someone not named Kelsey or Metal. He handed it off to a redheaded woman. They exchanged a hug and then went their separate ways.

"We got a problem. Our contact just handed the flash drive to a red headed woman that definitely wasn't me. Looks like they know each other," Kelsey said.

"Fuck," Blackburn said. "You and Bravo 6 go after the woman. The rest of Bravo, get this contact," Blackburn instructed. "Preferably alive on both of them."

Kelsey and Scott started off at a jog, hoping they could catch up to the redheaded woman. They finally caught up to her, but this time she had a backpack on. Where the hell did that come from? They followed her for several blocks.

"Where the fuck is she going?" Metal asked her.

"I think the train station."

Davis heard the exchange. "You are not authorized to be in another country."

Kelsey sighed. "Let's hope she gets on a train that stays in country then."

As Scott and Kelsey approached the train station, she shrugged and followed the redheaded lady in. They could hear on comms that Sonny and Vic had managed to covertly grab their supposed contact and were taking him back to the hotel. Naval Intel didn't want the CIA involved but if they weren't going to properly vet their asset- Blackburn was calling in the best CIA interrogator he knew; Mandy Ellis.

Kelsey talked in very rushed and harsh Dutch to a lady taking payment. In the end she walked away with two tickets.

"What did you tell her?" Scott asked.

"Shoved some money at her and told her to give me two tickets. She did what she was told."

The redheaded lady was getting on the International Line and Kelsey swore under her breath but she dragged Scott into the last door on the same car, away from the lady, hopefully to not be seen. She was not getting a good feeling about the backpack the lady was wearing.

"Bad news. She took the International Line," Kelsey said softly.

"You weren't supposed to get on that train," Blackburn admonished.

She leaned into Scott, pretending to be talking to him. "Made a judgment call. Hopefully she gets off at Antwerp or right across the Belgian line. We still need that flash drive."

All the sudden Scott was kissing her. Kelsey opened her eye for a crack and could see the redheaded lady glance away and then back out the train window once she realized they were pretty much making out. She really hoped she wouldn't have to use that distraction technique but it was a useful one.

Thirty minutes later, at the Antwerp stop, the redhead got off. Scott and Kelsey followed. Except very quietly, she placed a backpack by the turn styles. Scott was a SEAL and Kelsey had gone through enough training to know backpacks left in suspicious places were never good. Scott shook his head telling her not to do it, but taking her coat sleeve, to not get finger prints on it, she opened the backpack. And found a bomb. With a 30 second timer. "I can't disarm this. We gotta go after her," Kelsey said. "We just gotta scream bomb and get the fuck out of here."

Kelsey screamed bomb at the top of her lungs and people started running for their lives, like she had hoped. It was chaos. They started running too. That bomb only had 30 seconds on it if was a live one. The redhead had a good 20 seconds on them. As they ran for their lives, as much as they wanted to save lives, they had a mission to complete. One that might save thousands of sailors lives if that flash drive got into the wrong hands. Unfortunately it was a live bomb and both Kelsey and Scott paused as the Antwerp train station exploded.

They caught up to her, at a dead run, about 5 blocks from the train station. Kelsey had enough. "Stop!" She yelled. The lady didn't stop. "Ophounden!" she repeated in Dutch.

The redhead stopped and turned and faced Kelsey and Scott who immediately reached for the guns on their backs. "It's over," she replied in English.

"I will shoot," Kelsey warned. "Do not take another step. I can repeat this in Dutch as well. Stop."

Too late. The lady had reached for her gun and Kelsey and Scott both hit centre mass twice. She had four bullet holes in her.

Kelsey looked towards the alley that they were facing. Both her and Scott dragged the body there and began searching her until they found the flash drive in her purse. They found it. And then they took off in the other direction before neighbors called the cops about the gunfire. Most sirens seemed to be going in the direction of the train station though.

"Jackpot. Passing Kansas," Kelsey said into the comms.

Blackburn sounded tired. "Good read, Sierra 2. Passing Kansas. You and Bravo 6 are going to need to find somewhere to hold tight until we can get you out. I don't think the train is a possibility."

"Roger that."

"And where's the body so we can tell Antwerp Police where their bomber is?"

Scott chimed into the conversation. "I sent a picture to Davis with her body which should have the exact coordinates."

Davis came onto comms. "Sierra 2, how far are you from a rental car place?"

"Not far. I can probably bullshit my way through with my Dutch and false passport."

Blackburn sighed again. "Try that. Hopefully we can get us back to Florida soon."

"Roger that. Going for Florida." With any luck, she'd be across the border within 30 minutes and back within Rotterdam within the hour and wheels up within 90. But she had that flash drive.

An hour into their flight back home, Kelsey and Cerebus were sleeping on the floor of their C-130 and the guys were playing cards. Blackburn came down the steps and motioned for Ray. "We have a problem."

"A Kelsey problem, a Jason problem or a mechanical problem?" Jason was in Philly with Mikey who had just had emergency appendix surgery and that's why he wasn't on this op.

Blackburn scratched his beard. "Funny. I just got a call from SOCOM. We have a stop to make before heading home."

"Where?" Ray asked. It was unusual to get orders to turn the plane around while in mid-air.

"Addis Ababa. Two special envoys for the State Department were captured when their driver most likely purposely did not go to the airport. They were in Ethiopia for an African Union meeting."

Ray shook his head. "Fuck. We have a team in Djibouti, right? That's right next door to Ethiopia."

Blackburn shrugged. "They are in Nigeria right now. Pilot said he can get us to Addis Ababa in five hours."

"Well, this is our job so we will go do it."

Blackburn pointed to the girl on the floor. "She's my problem. It's a matter of whether she rolls with us."

"What's your call?"

"I'm not the one on the ground. I think either way some people at SOCOM are going to be pissed that we left her in the plane doing Intel, which is her job, but we didn't bring a female out to see if she can do it or very pissed that a female Marine is rolling with you. With that being said, she's pretty fucking qualified."

"I think we put it to a vote."

Blackburn motioned for the rest of the guys to quietly join him and Ray and debriefed them. "We are not going back to Virginia Beach. We are headed to Addis Ababa to rescue two special envoys to the State Department who got themselves in some hot water when their hired driver didn't drive them straight to the airport like he was supposed to. Now, the question is- does Kelsey roll with you?"

"Yes," Clay replied.

Sonny shook his head. "No. I hate rolling with straps."

Trent shook his head. "No. Same reasons as Sonny."

"Yes," Brock replied.

Vic shrugged, noncommittally. "We're down a man without Jason and she's probably the most qualified for a non-SEAL."

All eyes turned to Ray. Clay knew he was up for Warrant and this op would definitely make or break it if Kelsey was rolling with them. "I don't like it because she hasn't trained with us. I know she knows how to clear buildings and do it the right way, but she hasn't trained with us."

Clay put up his hand. "Not entirely true. We have trained her a little but I have been giving her pointers."

Now all eyes were on Full Metal because the quiet guy who never usually spoke but had the most experience, besides Ray, was the deciding vote. And he was the one that had just rolled with Kelsey. "My only concern is that she doesn't have a typical load out like we all have and hasn't shot or trained with it. She only has two side arms with her and fucking odd choices on those." She asked Davis to get her a CZ and a Beretta-92FS before they loaded. It was her CZ that she shot with and Scott was impressed with her shooting but he thought it was an odd style handgun to take when they had a lot more impressive ones.

Clay could feel Sonny's eyes burning into his brain. "She can use my second one. She has shot with it on the range before. I think she's also used a M7 at IOC."

Blackburn turned to Metal. "You rolled with her in the field. It was a little different style than this but do you think she can do this?"

He nodded. "She can." He had his concerns about her rolling in hot with them and would be dressing her down with Ray before going in but she had the skills.

Blackburn scratched his beard. "Better wake her up and tell her how you want her to clear a house."

Kelsey sat at the same table they were playing cards, lining up the sights of Clay's other MP7. It wasn't her favorite to run with but it would definitely do for today. As she boarded the plane in uniform, she wore her combat boots and skinny jeans along with her usual green undershirt. She already had a drop leg holster on, with her CZ in it.

Blackburn put a helmet and bulletproof vest on the table. "An hour until landing," he said. "Davis grabbed a helmet with night vision that she thought might fit you and this is her vest. Should fit."

"She's a good intel officer," Kelsey smiled.

Ray sat down. "On this mission, you listen to me. None of this officer bullshit."

"I thought that was a given."

Blackburn raised his eyebrows. "Quite frankly, I am a little worried about you taking orders from a Senior Chief. You stole a car in Belgium instead of going to the rental car place like Davis and I told you to."

Ray smiled, although he somewhat backed up Kelsey on that one. "You going to listen?"

"For the last time, I didn't steal a car. I borrowed it. And yes, I will listen to orders from Senior Chief Perry at all times while in the field, hell even SWO1 Quinn. I'll even listen to what my brother says for me to do."

Blackburn nudged the bulletproof vest forward. "I'll get Lopez and your brother to show you how to load your vest the way an operator really should."

After placing her bulletproof vest over her head that was full of extra ammo, grenades, the Beretta 92FS and stuff for breaching, her helmet with night vision goggles, and her guns, she was over the weight that she normally carried at IOC. And that was a bitch to carry. Clay just laughed at her adjusting to the weight of the vest and manoeuvring her drop leg holster. Thank God she was wearing skinny jeans. The rest of the guys tried to hide chuckles back as Clay eventually got her vest positioned the way she wanted it.

"You okay rolling with this set up?" Clay asked her.

She looked down at the rifle and then back at him and then to Sonny. "Don't have much of a choice, do I? But yeah, I'm good. Adapt and overcome, that's what you guys say, right?"

Sonny looked at her. "Damn girl, if you weren't married, I'd say you were every guy's dream here. Definite calendar worthy material right here. Even saying the right words."

"I try. Let's go get those men back."

"Oorah, Lieutenant," Lopez replied.

Trent held out a hand. "One question before we go. Why a CZ and a Beretta 92FS? Davis told you that you had your pick of handguns to take and you took those?"

"Are you all wondering why I picked those guns?"

"Yes," Brock answered.

Clay rolled his eyes and answered for her because he knew the truth. "Her hands are that big. Ours are not. A 9mm fits her hands better."

"I know a CZ is a very odd choice but I spent a lot of time on the firing range since I could and it's my preferred carry in combat situations."

Sonny nodded. "We will accept that explanation, odd choice for guns and all."

"Let's go boys."

AN: Nope, her rolling with a Tier 1 team ain't going to go over well.