Jason glanced around at his team as the C-17 touched down in Virginia Beach. It had been a somber flight back home, what with Sonny strapped down on what was basically a backboard and hooked up to different things, but at least they had all been going home together, alive and none of them in a box.
When the back end opened, more medical personal came onboard and within a few minutes Jason, Clay and Ray watched as Sonny was wheeled out of the plane, towards the waiting ambulance.
As the doors to the ambulance closed and it disappeared off the tarmac Jason glanced at his two standing teammates again. Ray was shouldering his backpack, probably anxious to get home to his family, so Jason gave him the go-ahead and then turned all of his attention to their youngest brother.
Clay was staring out the opening of the plane, eyes still locked on where the ambulance had last seen, and his face was a blank canvas, giving Jason no hints as to where his daughter's boyfriends head was at.
Shouldering his own backpack he stepped up next to Clay and put his hand on his slumped shoulder.
"Come on, kid. Let's go home, get some sleep and then we can visit Sonny in the morning."
Clay finally looked away from the empty space his gaze had been locked on and turned his head just enough so that he could meet Jason's eyes.
"He shouldn't be alone… what if he wakes up all alone in the hospital?"
Jason smiled gently.
"He won't be. Trent and Davis are both already at the hospital, awaiting his arrival. We all need to sleep and get our head on straight so we'll let them take care of our boy tonight and we'll see him tomorrow."
A sigh left the younger man before he nodded slowly and grabbed his backpack form the ground.
"Drop me off?" he asked his boss, because Jason had been the one driving the both of them to the base before they left.
"Yeah, no, that's not happening, kid. You're coming home with me." Jason said with a snort before he headed down the ramp, leaving Clay staring after him.
"But…" Clay said to the empty space where Jason had just stood before he shouldered his bag with a shake of his head. He really wanted to sleep, preferably in his own bed and with his girl, but if going home with his boss meant he at least got to do the second part? Clay wasn't going to protest all that much.
As he made his way down the ramp and out to the parking lot, Clay ran through what had happened in the last 72 hours for the umpteenth time and for the life of him he couldn't figure out how they could've made the situation different and that bothered him. If there wasn't any way they could've prevented it from happening, how did they stop it, or a similar thing, from happening again?
"Stop that mind of yours from running in circles, Spenser, and get in the car. I want to see my kids and get some sleep so let's go."
Clay's head snapped up and meet Jason's eyes.
"How did you know?" he asked as he joined his boss by the truck and tossed his backpack up on the flatbed.
"That you're trying to make sense of the madness and bring order to the chaos?"
"Yeah…" Clay mumbled as they both climbed in to the truck and buckled themselves in.
"Because I used to do the same. Hell, I still do from time to time. But somehow you have to let it go when it's not possible to make it make sense, Clay. If not, it's gonna drive you crazy." Jason said as he started up the truck and pulled out from the parking lot.
"Yeah… It's just…"
"What?" Jason asked, turning his head to look at the man next to him as they stopped at a red light.
"How do we stop it from happening again if there was nothing we could've done different?"
Jason sighed.
"We have to accept that what happened was a fluke and if we did the same mission a thousand times over it most likely wouldn't happen again."
"Yeah…" Clay said, looking out through the side window. "But the fact still remains that it did happen and for a while there Sonny was dead. We were probably only seconds away from having to make a death notification to his family… and Davis."
Jason glanced over at Clay as the last part registered. He'd know that Davis and Sonny were close but did Clay know something he didn't? Was he going to have to do something he really didn't want to do?
Shaking his head he decided to let it go. Sonny needed them all right now and Jason really didn't want to poke around in his brothers' personal life. He'd had enough of that what with Clay getting together with Emma.
They stayed quiet for the remaining part of the drive to Jason's house, both lost in their own thoughts as they tried to put the mission away and leave their work at work.
Jason parked his truck in the driveway and frowned when he found Clay's Nova parked where Emma's car normally resided and said car was nowhere to be seen.
"Do you know why your car is here and Em's is not?" he asked his passenger as they jumped out of the truck and closed the doors behind them.
"She didn't tell you?" Clay asked with a raised eyebrow as he grabbed his bag.
"Tell me what?"
"That shit hit the fan almost the moment we left? Her car decided to break down in the school parking lot, Linda got sick and couldn't get here, there's a problem with the kitchen sink, the thermostat broke and that's not taking in to account Mikey's broken arm and probably some other stuff as well."
Jason stared at the blonde. "What?"
"Yeah… Emma's had a lot on her plate the past few days." Clay said with a nod as the two of them made their way to the front door.
Jason sighed and shook his head as he unlocked the door and let Clay enter before he followed him in and locked the door behind them.
Tossing his keys on to the side table he ran a hand through his hair before he glanced over at Clay who stood looking at the stairs to the upper floor.
"Go on, go up there and get some sleep. We'll deal with everything else at a more human time."
Clay nodded and took a step towards the stair case before stopping to look at his boss again.
"You gonna go up and check on Mikey?"
"Not tonight. If I go up there odds are he'll wake up and he'll need all the sleep he can get. Now go on, I know you're dying to check up on Em."
Clay nodded again and then hurried over to the stair case where he took the steps two-at-a-time and was out of Jason's sight in mere seconds.
Jason watched the now empty staircase for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. He had so many thoughts running through his head he highly doubted that he'd get any sleep but at least he was at home and in a few hours he'd get the chance to hug and talk to both of his children, hopefully find out why Emma hadn't filled him in on what had been going on at home when they had talked and then, then he really needed to see with his own two eyes that Sonny was actually back home with them, even if it was in the hospital.
Clay paused as he reached the door that separated Emma's room from the upstairs landing. The door wasn't closed all the way – it never was when she was the alone adult in the house with Mikey – and as he stood there just listening he could hear her calm, deep, even breaths coming from inside the room, confirming that she was safe, at home, in her bed, sleeping.
His shoulders dropped as he listened to her breaths and some of the tension he'd carried since the clock had run out on Sonny in the tube eased and for the first time in over 24 hours Clay felt like he could actually breathe again.
Shaking his head at himself he straightened up and pushed the door opened just enough so that he could step in and then he closed it as he stepped in to the room. As his eyes landed on his girl he couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face and really, why would he?
Emma was lying on "her" side of the bed, hair spread out across her pillow and the covers pulled up to her chin, which only made the picture she was presenting even more precious.
Clay kicked off his shoes next to the dresser and his jeans flowed suit while he pulled his tee over his head and tossed it to the chair in the corner. Left in only his underwear he crossed the room and gently lifted the covers up on the empty side of the bed and let himself slide down next to Emma.
The shift of the mattress roused the sleeping girl and Clay gently brushed some hair out of her face and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Shhh, babe. It's just me."
Emma turned on to her back and opened one of her eyes.
"Clay?"
"Yeah."
Realizing that she really did have company on the bed she lifted herself up on her elbow.
"You're home? When? Are you ok?" she asked, her eyes traveling over him and taking in every sign of distress, tiredness and just plain exhaustion that she could see.
Clay pressed a kiss to her nose and then her lips but kept it light before pulling back.
"Plane landed about 90 minutes ago. Jace insisted I come over here."
"Good." Emma said as she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes as his did the same around her.
"Yeah…" he said softly in to the quite room. "Go back to sleep, babe. We'll talk in the morning."
"Hmm…" Emma mumbled before squinting up at him again. "Are uncle Sonny ok?"
Clay nodded. "He's at the hospital and Davis and Trent are with him. We'll visit in the morning." He pressed his lips to her hair. "Now go to sleep."
Emma let herself be rearranged to that the both of them were comfortable and then cuddled in as close as she could to the warm man next to her.
"Love you." she mumbled and pressed a kiss to his chest, over his heart, before promptly falling back asleep.
Clay smiled in to the darkness and pressed another kiss to her hair.
"I love you too, Emma Marie Hayes, so much."
The weight of an arm across her waist and the soft puffs of air that moved her hair on the back of her head had her smiling before she even opened her eyes. Clay was home.
Shifting gently as to not wake him up she managed to turn from her position as the little spoon so that she was facing him and then she opened her eyes for the visual confirmation that Clay was indeed laying next to her on the bed. And he was.
She just watched him for a few moments, happy to just have him back and to have the time to enjoy it without the outside world butting in, but then the urge to touch took over so she lifted her hand up and let her fingers gently trace his cheekbones, his nose and his cupid bow.
"What are you doing?"
Emma pulled her hand back with a smile.
"Making sure you're real?" she answered, making it sound both like a statement and a question.
Clay snorted and opened his eyes.
"I'm real all right." he muttered and then he closed the small distance between them and captured her lips with his.
The kiss started out slow and soft but when Clay ran his tongue across her lips, gently separating them, the kiss turned frantic and their hand started roaming over every piece of skin they could find.
Just as Clay's hands started to wander inside of Emma's panties a loud crash made them both flinch back and stare at each other.
Before either of them got their bearings back another crash sounded from the bottom floor which had both Emma and Clay out of bed and in to their clothes in mere seconds. Emma threw her bedroom door opened and was met by Mikey doing the same with his.
"What is happening Emma?" he asked, looking sleep rumpled and also a bit scared.
"Not sure, Bug, but it's probably just dad." she said as she pressed a kiss to his hair before rushing down the stairs, followed by both Clay and Mikey.
As they entered the kitchen they all stopped at the sight that greeted them; Jason surrounded by tools from his toolbox as he was bent over the kitchen sink with a large wrench in one hand and a hammer in the other.
"Uhm… dad?" Emma said slowly as she looked from the wrench to the hammer and back again.
Jason's head flew up at the sound of his daughter's voice and he looked surprised to see all three of them as he turned to face them.
"What are you guys doing up already?" he asked as he glanced at the clock. "It's not even 7am."
Emma raised an eyebrow at him.
"And just how did you think we would manage to sleep through the noise you're making?"
Jason glanced down at the tools and then back at the kids.
"Oh. Sorry." he said and then he placed to tools down on the counter.
Mikey, seemingly realizing that Jason was actually standing in their kitchen, rushed him as soon as the tools were put down.
"Daddy!" he said with a sob as he threw himself in to Jason's arms and Jason immediately pulled him close, gently maneuvering around the boy's broken arm.
"Hey, bud." he whispered and gently rocked them side-to-side.
It took quite a few minutes for Mikey to calm down but while he did Jason looked over at his daughter and found Clay wrapped around her as they both watched him and Mikey.
Pulling back slightly from his son Jason looked down at the cast.
"How did you managed this then, bud?" he asked, gently taking the broken arm in his hand.
"Me and Oliver crashed in to the boards when we were chasing after the puck and my arm got stuck between Oliver and he boards." Mikey answered with a small smile.
"Well that was unfortunate. Guess you'll spend some weeks working on just your skating now, huh?"
Mikey nodded before looking around at the mess Jason had managed to make in the kitchen.
"How are we gonna eat breakfast in here?"
Jason glanced around and then at the other three occupants before making a decision.
"How about this, we all get ourselves ready and then we'll head over to Bayville coffee for breakfast?"
Emma and Mikey nodded eagerly and the young boy headed upstairs to change out of his pj's before anyone could say anything else.
Clay stepped back and untwined his arms from where he'd had them wrapped around Emma and sighed.
"I think I'll skip breakfast and head on over to the hospital, Jay. I want to check in on Sonny."
Emma immediately grabbed hold of his arms while shaking her head at him and Jason did the same.
"You can't see him until visiting hours, kid and they don't start until 10 so you are coming to breakfast and if you can managed to get Emma here dressed and ready in less than half an hour? I'll even pay for it."
"HEY!" Emma said, placing both her hands on her hips. She could be dressed and ready in 5 minutes if she had to, damn it!
Both men smiled at her and Clay nodded his head at Jason while he turned Emma around and started maneuvering her towards the staircase.
"Got it, Jace. We'll be back down in 30." Clay called over his shoulder and then he lifted Emma up and carried her up to her room.
