Chapter 27

So, David has posted him back on set of SEAL Team and I'm so excited. He posted a pic of his face all cut up. I hope they pick up with the story line they originally planned, and I really hope they continue on with Mandy/Jason in a nice way. I heard season 4 was to get more personal for Jason possibly. Anyways until then I'll continue writing my story. Enjoy!

Mandy could hear the choppers nearby as they landed and unloaded the guys and Al-Hazred's family. She hung just out of view watching the mother and daughter be escorted across base. She could see some fear in both as they didn't know what to expect. A part of her felt terrible for dragging family into it. She always felt going after family members was tough even if those very same people helped the evil in the world. She'd tell herself to look at the bigger picture and that what she was doing was for the greater good.

After they passed by, she saw the guys walking the opposite way to put their gear away. She could see Jason had a couple cuts on his face and probably was a little shaken up since he was one of the ones closer to the blast. She had a feeling it'd be somewhat of a battle to get him checked out by medical.

As she walked up behind Jason, she heard Ray talking, "You should go get checked out just to be safe."

"I'm fine. Nothing that hasn't happened before," Jason replied.

"I'm with Ray. Two against one, you should get checked out," Mandy chimed in behind them causing both to jump a little. "Wow, you really are losing it," Mandy smirked at Jason.

"I am not losing it. I knew you were there," Jason defended himself.

"Got some sneaky skills there, Agent Ellis," Ray laughed.

"You haven't seen me in action," Mandy replied slyly making both men chuckle.

Jason hung back as Mandy walked up to him and Ray continued to the weapons bunk to put his stuff away.

"You okay?" Mandy asked looking him over and touching one of the cuts above his eyebrow.

"Remember the last time you asked me that?" Jason smirked stepping closer to her and putting a hand on her waist.

"You're avoiding," Mandy replied raising an eyebrow. "You're going to medical and getting checked out. I know you're fine and this is nothing out of the ordinary, but we can't be too careful. My turn to hover over you," Mandy declared leaving no room for arguments.

Jason sighed and looked down at her with soft eyes, "Just for you." He leaned in to kiss her, which gave them both the reassurance each needed. "Told you the kiss was for good luck," Jason laughed as he walked backwards from her causing Mandy to smile as well.

The doctor was flashing a light in Jason's eyes checking for a concussion. Mandy stood off to the side watching the doctor and Jason. She watched both of their moments to assess the situation. She knew Jason would brush over everything if it were up to him. She hoped her presence would keep him more honest.

She remembered the last time they were deployed and got back home, the two of them went out to get something to eat. She had gone to get their orders and when she turned around, she knew something was wrong just looking at Jason. Despite the terror she felt in that moment, she knew she had to keep calm and help Jason. Afterwards, she tried to check in on him, but he had skillfully avoided her. Neither one ever liked feeling weak in front of the other.

"Looks all clear. Any blackouts?" the doctor asked.

"Nope. I remember it all," Jason replied. "I've had worse."

"Good," the doctor replied. "Keep an eye on him just to be sure," the doctor said looking at Mandy.

Mandy nodded to the doctor as he left the room. She stepped in front of the doorway as Jason jumped off the bed to block him from leaving right away.

"Look at me," Mandy said sternly wanting to assess the situation for herself.

Jason stepped close to her and looked straight into her eyes. After a few moments he spoke, "Mandy, I'm okay." Jason leaned his forehead against hers.

"Okay," Mandy accepted it and then went to his side and hooked her arm into the crook of Jason's as they walked out.

"Possessive much?" Jason joked as they walked out of the medical building.

"No point in hiding. Gotta keep those doe eyed recruits in their place," Mandy said as Jason opened the door.

"One look from you and those recruits would be dead," Jason chuckled. "You ready to question them?"

"Lisa and I went over a plan. I think we'll both go in the first time and keep the mother and daughter together. Get a feel for both and then divide and conquer. I'm betting the sister helps us. Mothers around here tend to protect their sons," Mandy replied with a sigh.

"Hey, you okay?" Jason asked hearing the weariness in her voice.

Mandy looked at Jason as they walked, "Yeah, I just…. I know we're doing what needs to be done but we just kidnapped family members. If it were the other way around, wouldn't seem fair."

"Yeah," Jason sighed. "Everything in our world comes with a price unfortunately."

"Unfortunately," Mandy said leaning into him a little more and Jason giving her hand on his arm a squeeze.

"You know what we should do when we're back stateside?" Jason asked.

"Other than gorge ourselves in our food favorites?" Mandy replied.

Jason chuckled, "We should go on that road trip. You and me. Take a break and pretend nothing else exists for a week or something. Then we can come back and hit the ground running."

"Mmmmm, maybe you aren't all looks and no brain," Mandy replied back. "That actually sounds like a good idea. I don't know if I've ever really taken a vacation that didn't involve work."

"Same," Jason said. "So, you think I'm good looking?"

"God, I am not good for your ego," Mandy groaned.

"Oh, I think you are very good for my ego," Jason murmured into her ear as they got to JSOC and Jason squeezed her waist as he got the door for her. Mandy just shook her head.

"You should invite the kids on the trip," Mandy said as they walked towards the interrogation rooms.

"For the whole week?" Jason asked.

"Whatever you want. You don't get to see them as often. I know you miss them," Mandy replied.

Jason looked at Mandy, "Maybe they can come meet up with us for a weekend. You sure you're okay with that?"

"They're a part of you. I mean I don't want to overstep any boundaries," Mandy said nervously.

"Why are you nervous? You've met Emma and Mikey. They love you," Jason assured her.

"Yeah but that was before I became your girlfriend. We're also currently thousand of miles away," Mandy said.

"Hey," Jason said grabbing Mandy's elbow to stop her and turn her to face him. "You've always been there and more so since Alana passed. I don't know if you noticed but, on our calls, they're just as concerned about you as they are about me. I know in the past you've always kept your distance because thing between us have always been…" Jason trailed off.

"Complicated? Messy? Confusing?" Mandy supplied with a slight smile.

Jason chuckled, "Yeah, but listen, we're here now and all in."

"All in," Mandy repeated and then looked at Jason. "Okay, we should focus on the task at hand," she said as they walked into the observation room, where Lisa was waiting for them.

"They've been in the room for ten minutes so far," Lisa said as Mandy came to stand next to her looking into the room.

"You're taking the lead," Mandy said to Lisa. "I'll observe."

Lisa started to walk out of the room and Mandy waited for her to leave. Once Lisa was out the door she turned around and grabbed a fist full of his shirt to pull him in for a kiss.

"What was that for?" Jason asked trying to get his breath.

"For good luck," Mandy smiled as she walked out and Jason just shook his head.

Lisa and Mandy walked into the interrogation room. Behind them a translator followed and sat with Lisa at the table. Mandy hung back against the wall by the mirror.

Once the three settled Al-Hazred's mother started speaking, but not in English. They could tell she wasn't happy by her tone. The sister was quiet and looked around at everyone. Mandy could see fear in her eyes. The fear was probably a combination of being afraid of her mother and them.

"She wants to know what is going on and why they've been kidnapped," the translator said.

"I don't think you need us to tell you that you're here because of your son," Lisa replied.

"My son has done nothing," the mother replied back.

"So you know English," Mandy chimed in as the mother glared at her.

"You're son has caused a lot of trouble recently," Lisa said. "He's created quite a bit of combat activity along the border. His followers even attacked this base to help him escape."

"And what have you done?" the mother replied back. "You murdered my husband. You're all murderers."

Lisa paused being thrown off by the venom in the mother's voice.

"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Mandy muttered but got the attention of the mother quickly. Mandy continued to watch the sister. The sister sat quietly looking down but looked up every time Mandy spoke.

"Where can we find your son? Where were you meeting up with him?" Lisa pushed on.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen my son in a long time," the mother lied as the sister looked up and made eye contact with Mandy.

"Then where was your caravan headed exactly?" Lisa asked. "Just taking a trip for fun with a whole lot of fire power?"

"You can't be too careful around here," the mother replied.

"That's right," Mandy said looking at her nails. "Someone was waiting for you and ready to kill you anyways. Isn't that right?"

That got the mother's attention. She knew Mandy was right. The sister's eyes went wide and the fear was back in her eyes. Her lips moved slightly but she said nothing while glancing out of the corner of her eyes towards her mother.

"Maybe your son isn't as loyal to you as you thought," Lisa added on.

"He wouldn't betray his family," the mother replied coldly.

Lisa glanced back at Mandy and silently communicated that they weren't getting anywhere, which is what they expected.

"Sit tight," Mandy said as she left the room and Lisa and the translator followed.

Lisa and Mandy walked back to observation room where Blackburn and Director Thomson had joined Jason in watching.

"The sister wants to talk," Director Thomson said looking into the room.

"Yeah, but depends on what we can offer," Mandy said as her Dad turned around and they had a quiet conversation with their eyes.

"I'll make some calls," Thomson said squeezing Mandy's shoulder as he walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" Blackburn asked looking at the door and then at Mandy.

"The sister wants out," Mandy said simply. "She's afraid of her mother. She loves her brother but she's also looking for that ticket to freedom. Every time I spoke she looked up."

"You're her ticket out," Jason concluded.

"Unless my offer is solid, she won't give us solid intel," Mandy replied. "Also, Roman may have been behind the guys trying to kill them. He's cleaning up loose ends."

"You think the sister's intel will be solid?" Lisa asked.

"Hope so. Like I said, we gotta offer her the world and then some. Hopefully that'll be enough."

The room was quiet as everyone looked in on the mother and daughter.

"What exactly would we have to offer?" Lisa asked.

Before Mandy could reply, Thomson was back in the room and speaking, "We can give her full immunity, new identity. That means getting out of this hell hole."

"You can do that?" Blackburn asked skeptically.

"Sure I can. I'm a director. Anything goes wrong it's on me or I could just blame those beneath me," Thomson smirked looking at Mandy, who gave him a look back. "Shall we separate them and let them stew alone before approaching?"

"Sounds like a plan," Mandy replied as she went out in the hall to give out directions.

"You can really promise this girl all that?" Jason asked Thomson while glancing at the doorway Mandy just walked out of.

He was concerned about Mandy and making promises to assets. Things hadn't turned out so well with Samin, granted Reiss turned out to be a traitor. He thought about their conversation over the camp fire and how she was struggling with carrying out her job of developing assets. He saw the guilt Mandy wore talking about making promises she knew she couldn't or wouldn't be able to keep. He remembered the look of shock Mandy had back in Caracas when Bravo made it back on the plane and he had to tell her that the body bag was Dr. Craig. He watched her sit across from it on the plane while he tried to figure out how things had gone so horribly wrong. He knew she felt guilty for putting the team and Dr. Craig through all the chaos of Caracas. Even with everything up in the air of what happened on the mission, she still managed to find the truth and keep Bravo team intact. Thanks to her quick thinking in sending out a drone before leaving HAVOC, she found the truth to what happened at the warehouse.

He knew the two of them held the weight of the world on their shoulders. He wasn't sure how to comfort her per say but he always knew and would always make sure she didn't hurt alone. She'd been there for him countless times over the years.

Thomson looked at Jason and reassured him firmly, "Yes. We're keeping our promises today Master Chief."

"Good," Jason replied.

Looking into the room, the mother was alone at the table staring at the mirror. She was just like her son. She looked at the mirror as if she could see them and her eyes were filled with revenge and hate.

"Let's hope this gamble pays off," Director Thomson said.