"What are you doing?" Emma asked her dad as she stepped in to the kitchen, intending to get some breakfast and coffee before heading to the mall with Hannah and Cathy.

"Cleaning this up for you." Jason answered as he continued to clean the gun on the table before him.

Emma filled her travel mug up and then returned the coffee pot to the coffeemaker and walked over to her dad to see what he was apparently cleaning up for her. Seeing the gun he'd taken apart and was now cleaning Emma shook her head.

"No. Hard pass on that one."

"There is no pass." Jason said, looking up at his daughter. "I'm taking you to the range 'cause you need to learn how to shoot."

"No, I don't. There's absolutely no need for that and besides, I have plans and none of them includes a trip to the range."

"Yes, you do. You do need to learn how to shoot."

"Why? For what reason do I need to learn how to shoot and carry a gun?" Emma asked, hands on her hips.

Jason sighed. "What's gonna happen when Grandma's not here or I'm not here? Who do you think is in charge then?"

Emma opened her mouth to answer but Jason did that himself.

"You would be the one who's in charge and that is why you need to be able to handle a gun."

"I know how to dial 911, dad. Just like you and mom thought me when I was three." she said with a small smile and kissed him on the cheek as she walked over to the fridge.

"That's great. You know how to dial 911. All right, so what happens when you do dial 911? How long does it take for them to get here? How do you defend yourself in the mean time?"

Grabbing a yogurt, she shut the fridge again before looking back at her dad.

"The world's not full of bad guys, dad. You only see it that way because of your job. We've lived here for how long without a break in?"

"It's not because of my job, all right? I'm not always gonna be around to look after you – we are going on deployment soon - so you need to be prepared." Jason told her before he started to put the now cleaned gun back together.

"For what? This is Virginia Beach, not Yemen." she said, trying to make light of the situation. She knew that if her dad had his way her and Mikey would be wrapped up in bubble wrap and placed in a secure location while he was away but that just wasn't realistic.

"It's not a joke, Emma."

She sighed and put her yogurt down on the kitchen island before walking back towards her dad at the dining table.

"I know. You want to keep me safe. But guess what, I am safe. And so is Mikey. I don't need a gun." she said gently while wrapping her arms around him from behind in a slightly awkward hug.

Jason sighed and put one of his hand above Emma's. Emma leaned back and placed her head on top of her dad's.

"But if it makes you feel better, I'll take Krav Maga classes or something. Clay's been bothering me about that because he thinks I need to know how to defend myself."

With that Emma kissed her dad's hair and, after grabbing her to-go mug with coffee, headed towards the garage.

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better..." Jason grumbled under his breath as Emma left the kitchen but as he found himself alone again he gave the idea another thought… It would actually make him feel a bit better if he knew that Emma at least knew something more than just the basic self-defense. He would have to talk to Clay about this and see what he'd had in mind.

The buzzing from his phone, signaling that he'd gotten a text, pulled Clay away from the movie he was watching.

Birdie
Wednesday 19.34
Are you home? Can I stop by?

Bear
Wednesday 19.35
Yes and yes :)

Clay waited a moment for a reply but none came so he put his phone back down on the table and just as he pressed play again a series of knocks, Emma's signature, rapped on his door so he paused it again and headed over to the door.

As he opened it Emma practically fell in to his arms and wrapped herself around him, arms around his neck and legs around his waist.

"Well hello to you too, Em." he laughed as he wrapped his own arms around her and kicked the apartment door closed.

"I'm sooo done with my dad." she muttered in to his neck, squirming in to a comfier position as he sat the two of them down on the couch.

Clay chuckled and brushed some hair away from her cheeks.

"What he do this time? Another awkward inquiry in to your sex life?"

Emma shuddered in his arms and lifted her head up so that she could glare at him.

"No! And please don't ever bring that up again because as far as I'm concerned it never happened. And both dad and Ray seem to agree with me on that."

"So, what is it then?" he asked, pushing an errant hair strand behind her ear.

"He insists I need to learn how to shoot and I've found him cleaning out guns at the kitchen table three times this week! He want me to go to the range with him and I swear one of these days he's just gonna hand me a concealed carry permit."

"Ok, hang on. Are you telling me that in the 18 years you've been alive, Jay hasn't already taken you to the range? Or at least taught you how to handle a gun?"

Emma groaned in frustration. "Of course he has. I can handle a gun if I need to but dad is on a mission and apparently won't give it up."

"I can see where he's coming from," Clay started and then had put a hand up to stop Emma from uttering how displeased she was with his words, "but, I think I'd prefer you unarmed, sweets."

Emma instantly relaxed again and nodded in agreement before stopping to look at him.

"Why is that exactly?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because there is so many ways it could go wrong. I'm pretty sure you could handle a gun, and Jace wouldn't let you carry if he didn't believe that too, but there are ways that a gun could be disarmed from you and used against you. Or go of accidentally. That's why."

Seemingly satisfied with his answer Emma let her head fall back down to his shoulder and she let out a sigh.

"I just want him to let it go…" she mumbled.

They sat quiet for a while, with Emma wrapped around him and his hands making soothing patterns up and down her back.

"There are other ways for you to defend yourself that doesn't include a gun…" Clay suddenly said, making Emma sit up again.

"I told him that. I said I'd take like Krav Maga or something if that'd make him feel better but I got no real response from him. Just found him two days later cleaning out another gun."

"Hmm…" Clay muttered. "Do you want me to bring it up to him?"

Emma shrugged. "I'm not sure if that's a good or bad idea to be honest, Bear. I mean… would he see it as my boyfriend bringing it up or his rookie?"

I don't know, sweets. But you and I said we would keep work and home separate, but Jay has to do the same. The only way to do that is to actually have conversations where that separation is necessary"

"I guess…" she said slowly before seemingly coming to a conclusion of her own. "Alright, if you have the opportunity to talk to dad about it, give it a shoot. I do not want him to just hand me a concealed carry permit one of these days."

"Well, we do go back to work tomorrow so I'll see when and if I get the time to talk to him about it."

"Thanks, Bear." she said before pressing their lips together in a sweet kiss.

As they pulled back Clay pressed another kiss to her forehead.

"You are very welcome, babe."

Finally letting go of Clay, Emma twisted around so that she could see the TV which was still on pause. Tilting her head she studied the frozen frame for a second and as a smile spread across her face she turned slightly so that she could see her boyfriends face.

"Are you watching the Vampire Academy movie?"

Returning to work was supposed to be calm and 'easy'. They were supposed to have a few weeks of training and just… getting the team back in shape, but instead they found themselves tasked with a very rare and special op just a few hours of checking in on base and within 30 they were on the C-17 and had a 13 hour flight to Qatar ahead of them.

Clay glanced at Jason when their quick briefing wrapped up but decided that now wasn't time to talk about Emma and instead he went to hang his hammock and chat with Sonny. Later on, as everyone settled down in their hammocks or the benches, Clay saw Jason sitting by himself but before he could make a decision on wither to approach him or not, Blackburn did just that so Clay took that as a sign to just let it go until the op was done and dusted.

The op itself, which Sonny called a Unicorn, was a hostage rescue from a hijacked plane and a joint one at that, with the British SAS in charge. When they got back on the C-17 to fly home they all felt as if they'd been at it for days when really they'd only been on the ground for a few hours – just enough time to lose 3 hostages and save the other 80.

The debrief wasn't as extensive as they usually where – they weren't the ones in charge after all – and when all the t's where crossed and i's dotted, the team scattered on the plane. Sonny to the corner where Davis was going through her usual lists, Trent and Brock sat down by one of the coolers, Ray climbed in to his hammock and Jason ended up on one of the boxes of gear strapped down at the far end.

Clay, having stayed by the debrief table, got an eyebrow raise from both Blackburn and Mandy when he didn't immediately move off to his own space.

"Something on your mind?" Mandy asked with a wry smile, having seen the glances the youngest member kept throwing his boss's way.

Clay blew out a breath as he considered his answer and then, realizing that Mandy was, well, Mandy, decided to check what and if Jace had told her.

"Jace say anything to you about giving Em shooting lessons, a gun and/or a concealed carry permit?"

Mandy's eyebrows flew up.

"No, he hasn't. Is that a thing?"

"Apparently. Em doesn't want it but he's really pushing for it. She's open to take self defense classes but she doesn't want a gun. And I agree with her."

Mandy nodded in agreement and so did Blackburn, both knowing the risks and rewards of guns and civilians.

"So, you glancing over at Jay?" Blackburn asked, tilting his head towards the man on the box.

"Told Em I would bring up the self defense thing with him, see if I could talk him down from gun to Krav Maga. Just haven't found the moment to do so yet." Clay said with s shrug.

"Well, now's as good a time as any." Mandy told him and then gave him a friendly bump in the side to get him moving.

"God you're bossy." Clay mumbled with a humorous wink as he wandered off down the plane towards Jason and the conversation ahead.

Sitting alone on the couch, Mikey upstairs in his room, Emma stiffed when she heard and unfamiliar noise. Listening intently, waiting to see if she heard it again, she sat still for a good minute or two before letting it go and returning her focus to the TV.

"Just when you thought you were all alone, look who's back."

The sound of a voice made her jump in her seat, a hand landing on her chest as she realized who it was.

"Do you really have to do that every time you return home?" she asked, pretending to be mad at him.

"Yes." Jason said with a wide smile. "You know how much I love surprising you. The look on your face is priceless!"

Emma shook her head but got up from the couch to give him a hug. She might not be a fan of his surprise returns but she did love it when he came home.

"Where's your brother?" he asked as they broke the hug.

"Playing video games in his room. Like a mole person." Emma said with a grin

It was Jason's turn to shake his head. "Of course he is. If he isn't on the ice he's on the console..."

Pulling a pamphlet out of his back pocket he held up so that Emma could see it.

"What is that?" She asked hesitantly. "A concealed carry permit?"

"No. Look at it." Jason said, holding it out for her until she grabbed it and unfolded it.

"Krav Maga."

"Right? At the Y. You start the week before I leave for deployment."

"What's happening here?" Emma asked softly. "You where dead set on me having a gun and now you're ok with Krav Maga?"

"I heard you, ok? This is me compromising."

Emma looked at him skeptically.

"No, seriously. There's no way you just decided to 'hear' me. What changed your mind?"

Jason sighed. "I talked to Clay. He made some good points and, while I still would prefer you carrying a gun, I will settle for self defense." he was quiet for a second. "And shooting lessons. You can decide who you want to have them with – anyone on Bravo – but I want you to be up to date with your shooting and there will be a gun in this house. At all times."

Emma just looked at her dad for a minute, mulling over his words, before nodding.

"I can live with that. And thank you. For listening to Clay."

"Yeah, yeah… the kid does have his moments…" Jason muttered, making Emma chuckled.

"Is it ok if I head over to his place?" she asked, glancing at the clock.

Jason did the same and then sighed. "Yeah, go ahead." Another pause. "But if it gets too late do the smart thing and stay there for the night, ok? I'll live in happy ignorance of what goes on there but don't drive tired, ok?"

"Thank you, daddy." Emma said, standing up on her toes to place a kiss on his cheek before heading towards the door.

"Yeah…You're sure you don't want a gun?" he called after her but all he got in return was a laugh as the front door closed behind her.

Emma didn't bother to text ahead this time. She knew he was going to be home and he'd told her a while back to use the apartment if she ever wanted a place to go.

As she approached the door she pondered for a second if she should knock or not but then decided not to, just in case he'd gone straight to bed. He'd told her once that while he might nap in his hammock he never got any kind of quality sleep on the plane so it was very possible she would find him asleep.

Unlocking the door she pushed it open and as she stepped in she found the living area empty and so was the kitchen.

Kicking her shoes off next to Clay's sneakers she tip toed over to the bedroom which door was slightly ajar. Opening it a little wider she saw that she had been right in her assumption and Clay was very much asleep.

Pushing the door open enough so that she could slip in, she then closed it softly behind her and continued to tip toe over to what was 'her' side of the bed.

Grabbing the tee Clay most likely had discarded before he fell into bed, she quickly change out of her own top and in to the soft grey tee and, after removing her skirt, climbed in next to the sleeping man.

Realizing that there was no pillow where one should be she looked at Clay and couldn't stop the fond smile that settled on her face when she found the missing pillow being snuggled in Clay's arms. Looked like she wasn't the only one who'd gotten used to sleeping next to someone.

As she gently tried to remove the pillow from his gasp his eyes opened.

"Hey, Birdie. What are you doing here?" he asked with a voice raspy with sleep as his eyes focused in on her.

"Hi yourself. I came over to say thank you for whatever you told my dad because he has decided that Krav Maga and shooting lessons will suffice." she told him while she removed the pillow from his hold and then situated herself against him.

Emma's head ended up on his left arm, their legs tangled together naturally and Clay let out a soft sigh as his free arm wrapped around her and pulled her in as close as she could get without them actually becoming one entity.

"I'm just happy he listened." Clay said softly before placing soft kisses on the top of her hair, on her forehead, down her nose and finally on her lips.

"Do you have to leave soon?" he asked sleepily as he laid his head back down on his pillow.

Emma shook her head. "No, I'm spending the night."

"If I wasn't so tired there is so much I would be willing to do with that…" Clay said while a huge yawn escaped him.

Emma giggled and pressed a kiss to his jaw.

"You can make it up to me in the morning."

"I like the sound of that." he mumbled, already halfway back to dream land.

Emma watched him for a few seconds, feeling her own eyes grew heavy with tiredness and then she closed them to let herself join her boyfriend in sleep.