About an hour before everyone was supposed to start showing up, Clay felt the anxiousness start creeping in.
"What's on your mind?" Sonny asked, seeing the wheels turning in Clay's mind.
"I don't know. Just anxious I guess. I haven't seen a bunch of these people in ages and wondering what they're going to think of 'this' Clay." Clay pointed to himself up and down. "What they're going to say, if they're gonna ask questions. I just don't know what to expect."
It killed Sonny to see Clay so unsure of himself. It was one of the new traits that had been a constant since he has been home. The once strong, cocky and stubborn Clay was now seemingly replaced by a doubtful, unsure and 'questioning everything' Clay. "You don't have to worry about that today. Everyone that's coming is family. They know enough to not ask questions. They just miss you and want to see you."
Clay hoped he was right and deep down believed him. There was just that one part of him that still always expected the worst and he felt like his appearance would draw in questions.
Physically, he didn't look half as bad as he did when he first came home. A few months of rehab, therapy and various other factors such as walks around the neighborhood with Brock and Cerb, lunches and some light home workouts with Trent and long conversations with Ray had him looking and feeling like the average human being again. You could no longer see every bone in his body, he was finally starting to eat regularly and overall was feeling better. He still had a ways to go before he reached his old physical appearance, but the improvements from coming home until now were astronomical.
Clay was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock at the door. Trent and his wife, Bri let themselves in before anyone could let them in carrying two large trays of desserts.
Trent and Bri were originally supposed to get married when they got back from the mission from Hell, but after losing Clay they decided to postpone it for a few months to give themselves and everyone else time to grieve.
As they walked in, Trent immediately went to find the guys while Bri dropped the desserts off on the counter, said hi to Emma and then made her way over to Clay who was sitting on the couch watching TV.
Clay stood up for a hug as soon as he noticed Bri making his way over to him.
"I missed you so much. I'm so glad you're ok!" She nearly sobbed as they hugged.
"Clay just smiled and replied "Miss you too." He didn't even acknowledge her comment about being 'ok' cause in all honesty he didn't always feel ok. Half of the time he just faked it.
They sat and made small talk for a few minutes until Brock and Cerb walked in carrying two large cases of beer, at which point Clay went to help him while Bri went back to the kitchen to help Emma.
Clay, Brock and Cerb headed outback to join Trent, Sonny, Jason and Full Metal who had arrived earlier, to put the beer in the coolers. Sonny was already slaving around the grill while Jason at a nearby table drinking beer and busting on him.
Brock and Clay joined them at the table after filling the two coolers. Jason immediately stood up, walked to one of the coolers that had cold beers in them and pulled out two. He returned to his seat, opened one of the beers and handed one of the beers to Clay.
Clay looked at Jason trying to figure out if it was some type of trick or something. He hasn't been allowed to drink since before he held captive.
"You better take it before I change my mind." Jason smirked.
Clay looks over at Trent as he reaches for the beer, still not entirely convinced this isn't some sort of trick, waiting for Trent to put a quick stop to it.
"You better take that beer before we both change our minds." Trent said, know Clay wasn't going to take it until he said ok. "Just pace yourself."
Davis and Mandy stepped outside as Clay was putting his almost empty beer bottle down on the table. "Woah! Look who's drinking!" Lisa teased.
Clay just smiled and hugged them both. He hasn't seen very much of either one of them since he was released from the hospital, but they would call or text from time to time to check in and see how was doing.
Lisa then immediately went over to Sonny and started cracking jokes about his BBQ skills.
Blackburn arrived next with his three kids. Him and his ex-wife divorced about a year before Clay joined Bravo. Part of their custody agreement was that Blackburn would get the kids every other weekend unless he was deployed or being spun up. Most of the time, when the team held family BBQ's, it was either before a deployment or a birthday, so unless the birthday fell on Blackburn's weekend, he didn't have the kids.
The three kids, ages 10, 7 and 6, all knew the members of Bravo, but they didn't have the close-knit bond that RJ and Jameelah did. They quickly said hi to everyone then ran out into the yard to play with Cerb.
The last ones to show up and the ones Clay was most anxious to see was Ray and his family. He had seen Ray and Naima multiple times, but they waited until last night to tell the kids that Clay was in fact, still alive.
RJ was still too young to really understand anything that was being said, but Jameelah wasn't. She was confused, cried and asked 100 questions before she finally fell asleep.
From the time she woke up until the time they left for the BBQ, all Jameelah did was ask what time they were going to see Uncle Clay. She was so excited to see him again so it was kind of a shock when they got to Jason's that Jameelah clung to Ray and was reluctant to go up to Clay.
"Baby, what's wrong? You've been asking to see him all day." Ray knelt down in front of her.
Jameelah looked her daddy in the eye and shrugged. "I don't want to hurt him."
"You don't have to worry about that. He's getting better now, remember? We talked about this last night. It's ok to give him a hug." Ray reminded her.
"But you said he's not all the way better yet." Jameelah nearly cried.
Naima knelt down next to Ray, trying to help him convince Jameelah that it really was ok to give Clay a hug.
"Jam-"she started to say, but was quickly cut off when Jameelah gave an adamant "No!" Then ran inside.
Ray and Naima both stood up to apologize and then go inside to talk to Jameelah, when they noticed Clay was already in the process of standing up and walking over to them to try to help.
"She talked about you all day. I don't know what's gotten into her, but I'll go talk to her." Naima said to Clay.
Clay put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Let me do it." Clay insisted and was on his way inside before anyone could say anything.
Emma and Bri were still in the kitchen finishing up the side dishes when Clay walked in. "Mind giving us a minute?" He asked.
"Not at all. We were just getting ready to head out." Emma responded as they both grabbed a few bowls and headed out the door.
Once they were gone, Clay walked deeper into the house and found Jameelah with her face buried in the couch, crying. He sat down next to her, gently rubbing her back. "Jameelah?" He said softly, trying to get her to look at him. When she didn't look, he tried again. "Can you please look at me Jameelah? I really missed you."
Jameelah slowly sat up, but made sure to keep some distance between them.
"There you are." Clay wiped a tear from her cheek. "Can I please get a hug now?"
"But I don't want to hurt you." She mumbled.
"It won't hurt me Jameelah. If anything, it will make me feel better." Clay said as he saw her contemplating his words.
"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly.
"I'm positive. Now come here." Clay opened his arms wide for her.
Jameelah threw herself into his hug and buried her face in his chest and started crying again. "I missed you so much."
"I know Jam. I missed you a lot too. I thought about you every day."
She untangled herself from his arms and looked up at him. "Daddy said the bad guys got you and that's why you were gone for so long."
Clay just nodded while looking at her. "Yeah. They did." He sighed.
"Were they mean to you?" She asked, focusing on the scar under his eye.
Clay wanted to lie and say no, but he knew Ray and Naima had already told her a good amount and Jameelah was smart enough to know if he was lying. "Yeah. They were." He did his best to keep his answers short.
Jameelah then got real quiet, looking out the sliding glass doors that lead to the back yard then back to Clay. "What if they get my daddy next?" She asked quietly.
It was a question Clay was completely unprepared for. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't promise her that it wouldn't happen, but he also didn't want to add to her worry by telling her that so he came up with the next best thing. "Jameelah, I want you to listen to me, ok?" He stopped and waited for her to give him his full attention. "Your uncles and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that never happens. Do you understand me?"
"Do you promise?" She asked.
"I promise. Now come her and give me another hug." Clay smiled as she held him tight. "Alright. Now what do you say we get back to this BBQ?"
Jameelah nodded, smiled and ran out the door to go play with the rest of the kids and Cerb.
Judging by the smile on her face as she ran out the door, everyone could tell the conversation went well. Then when Clay made his way out, they noticed he was standing a little straighter than he has in a while and had that cocky grin back on his face. Before returning to his spot at the table, he grabbed a second beer.
As he sat down, all eyes were on him and he knew they were all dying to know what happened. Trying to ease their minds he offered a simple "We're going to be ok."
"What did you say to her?" Ray asked.
"Just that a hug would make me feel better."
"Ok, then what did she say to you?" Sonny knew there was more to the story and was trying to pry it out of him.
Clay shrugged again and just smiled. That was a conversation he intended to keep between just him and Jameelah for now. "She just asked a few questions and I answered them the best way that I could."
Realizing Clay wasn't going to spill the beans and reveal details of their conversation, they decided to drop the subject and continue on with the BBQ.
Towards the end of the BBQ, Clay noticed Lisa and Jason whispering to each other by the fire pit. Then he heard Jason asking for everyone's attention.
Once everyone was gathered around, he asked Clay to stand between Lisa and him. After a sweet little speech from Lisa, followed by a few additional words from Jason, all about how much they missed him and how glad they were to have him back and about all the progress that he's made, Davis held out a key for him.
"It'll be ready to move into next weekend." Jason smiled.
Clay was a little confused at first but once he realized what it was, his eyes and his smile grew. "Are you freaking kidding me!?"
"It's a three-bedroom rancher about ten minutes from base." Jason informed him.
"There's one more thing, hope you're ok with it." Jason said pointing to Sonny.
Sonny held up a key of his own. "We're gonna be roomies!"
Clay smiled even more and joked about how he would take anyone but Sonny as a roommate. In all reality though, he was super excited. Him and Sonny had been talking about getting a place together once both of their leases were up to help make things cheaper.
Once the excitement of that was done, Clay, who was now thoroughly exhausted, sat back down and watched as people started cleaning up around him. He smiled as they all joked around and made small talk with each other. For the first time in almost a year and a half he felt like everything was going to be ok. He had one of the best support systems around and knew that any time he felt down or like he wanted to give in, that they would be there to pick him up.
/
Three months after moving in with Sonny, Clay was cleared by everyone except for one person.
Dr. Conners.
He sat in the waiting rooming of his therapist's office, bouncing both legs anxiously, knowing that today was the day he either got the all clear or was off Bravo for good. He knew it was a decision that could go either way. He had made remarkable progress over the last couple months, he just wasn't sure if it was going to be enough for Dr. Conners to clear him.
"It'll be fine." Sonny kept repeating. He's be an idiot not to clear you."
Clay just nodded and smiled, waiting for Dr. Conners to open the door for their last therapy session.
The nervous pit in his stomach grew when the door finally opened and Dr. Conners invited him in.
Once he disappeared behind the door, it was Sonny's turn to bounce his legs.
Time stood still as he waited for Clay to re-enter the waiting room.
When the door finally opened and Clay stepped out, he couldn't hide the smile on his face. He then held up the letter from Dr. Conners stated that he had officially been cleared to return to Bravo.
Sonny couldn't be happier for him. The kid busted his ass to get to where he was today and the hard work had finally paid off.
As Clay drove them to base, Sonny sent out a group text letting everyone know Clay had been cleared.
Clay went on and on and on about how excited he was to be back and how much he couldn't wait to tell the guys, not knowing that Sonny had already done it.
As he and Sonny walked into the cages, there was balloons, cake, a welcome back sign and everyone gathered around his cage.
"How'd you guys know?" Clay asked as he shot a glare at Sonny.
would be a fool not to clear you. Jason patted him on the shoulder.
Clay just smiled, taking it all in. It took nearly two years, but he was finally back where he belonged.
The End!
Just wanted to thank every single one of you that has stuck with me. It was a long crazy road and definitely a lot harder than I anticipated but Its finally come to an end. I hoped you all enjoyed this story and don't worry, there's definitely more stories to come!
