AN: Hey everyone! I know it's been a hot minute since I posted anything on here, especially in this fic. The school semester has been absolutely nuts lately, and I've barely had time to read fics let alone write! Also, I posted the previous chapter to start this multi-chapter fic before the events of this current season and all the wild - putting it lightly - but amazing character and story development that has taken place, so this fic might be a little confusing. I still honestly haven't fully decided where I want these next few chapters to fit in the timeline of the show, so we might just have to figure that out as we go! If you have any thoughts/requests on where you'd like to see it fit in, let me know in a review or pm! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little drabble and the few to come!

Mission Success part 2: Thank god for Kevlar

After a rough deployment, the powers that be have decided to take Bravo team out of the rotation for a little while to get the guys some time to relax with their families and heal up from their varying levels of ailments. Jason hadn't mentioned the events of the dirt deployment to Emma partially because he didn't want to give her more to worry about instead of her studies, but also because he figured she'd probably find out on her own. She has a way of figuring those things out, just like her mother.

Jason sighed as he turned the showerhead off and wrapped a towel around himself. After drying off and pulling a soft pair of sweats on, he walked slowly towards the kitchen of his small apartment in search of some dinner. He made it to the kitchen before deciding to acknowledge the presence in his living room that he had noticed the second he walked out of the bathroom. Before he could say a word, she spoke first.

"Oh my gosh! Dad! What happened?!" Emma's jaw nearly hit the floor at the sight of the large bruise on the side of her father's back. It was so many different colors that it was starting to just look brown, but mostly painful.

"I'm fine. Guy got a jump on me but my vest caught it." He said, trying his best to not let her see how sore he felt.

"It sure doesn't look like it! You did have a doctor look at it, right? I love Uncle Trent and all, but we both know you don't really listen to him half the time anyway." She asked, taking a step closer to study the bruise further.

"Yes, actually. I spent some time in the base hospital and then had Trent breathing down my neck for the rest of the deployment." he replied, trying to move away from her so he could get dinner.

"Good! Someone's gotta do it when I'm not around!" Emma said with a smirk.

"Oh, yea? Seems like you keep forgetting who the parent is here!" Jason shook his head in return, but couldn't help thinking about how Emma was starting to act more and more like him. Most of the time that scared him half to death, but other times he thought maybe it wasn't entirely bad.

"You said a guy snuck up on you? That bruise looks way too big for that… must've been large-caliber then. Are your ribs ok?" She asked. Jason let out a heavy sigh. As much as he wanted to tell her to drop it, he knew that she got her persistence from him (or stubbornness, he has yet to decide which) and that there was no way that she would. Instead, he lowered himself gently into the couch cushions and started relaying the events of the day a few weeks ago.

"Havoc, this is One. Are we cleared hot for entry?"

"Affirmative Bravo One." came the reply from Davis. Jason gave the signal and Ray and Clay dropped their targets with ease from their sniper positions while Metal, Sonny, and Brock lobbed the flashbangs into the room. They quickly entered the room, taking down tangos in a methodical fashion, moving until they were in the center room where the weapons were stashed.

"Havoc this is three, passing falcon." Sonny said as he flipped the lid off of another wooden crate, examining and taking pictures of the cash of weapons while the rest of the guys gathered the intel they needed. Sonny whistled out loud as he picked through the weapons cash and admired some of them.

"Alright Sonny, put your tongue back in your mouth and set the charges. Limited time on target, remember?" Jason said, turning to the Texan. Sonny shook his head and began to comment, but was cut off when things went sideways in a matter of seconds. Clay tried to warn Jason of the threat sneaking up on him, but before he could, Jason felt a sharp thud that hit him from behind. Before he knew it, he was face down on the dirty floor, pain surged through his abdomen. He could hear voices yelling around him, but they were muffled as his heart pounded in his head and he tried desperately to catch his breath. Then again he was moving, being rolled onto his side, and his senses rushed back to him. Trent's face came into view, and his voice soon followed.

"Look at me Jase, can you hear me?" Jason nodded, still trying to get his breathing back under control.

"Ok good. Take a deep breath for me, I got you. Bastard snuck up on all of us, got you with a pretty big round. Lucky for you the vest caught it." Trent explained. Jason nodded, forcing himself to sit up despite the protests from the medic. He ignored the pain settling heavily into his torso from moving, forcing it down further as he stood to his feet and keyed his comms.

"Havoc to three, say again your last. Status report on One." Jason keyed his comms before Trent could stop him.

"I'm good. Took a round to body armor but it didn't penetrate." He answered, bending over in an effort to ease the pain in his side.

"Good copy Bravo One, exfil is waiting outside, get a move on." Davis answered. Jason replied, and started to move, despite feeling the five pairs of eyes on him.

A short exfil later…

The team filed into the tack room back on base and began unloading their gear. Jason gingerly pulled the vest off over his head, trying not to be alarmed by how stiff he already felt. As much as he wanted to chalk it up to simply being the oldest guy in the room, he knew it likely had more to do with the flattened bullet that was still sticking out of the back of his vest. He couldn't stop the grunt of pain that escaped him when he lifted his left arm or really moved his torso in any significant way. At that, Trent finished what he was doing and walked over.

"I'm pretty sure we both know what I'm about to find, but I need to check your ribs anyway. Lift your shirt up." The medic said matter of factly, his tone leaving no room for debate. Jason did one better, pulling the dirty, sweaty fabric all the way off and tossing it to the side. The room filled with noises of sympathy as the rest of the guys took in the sight of the bruise that started just under his left shoulder blade and stopped near the middle of the side of his back. He hissed in pain and jerked away from Trent's hands - despite how gentle he was being - as he felt for any obvious deformities in his rib cage.

"Well, I may not have x-ray vision, but I'm pretty damn sure at least two ribs are broken, and there's probably some muscle or tissue bruising. I say that to mean you need to go check yourself into the base hospital." Trent said, handing the team leader an ice pack.

"I'll take care of the debrief, you go get checked out and meet us when you're done." Ray said, cutting him off before he could speak. Jason raised a hand in surrender and made his way across the base.

"So you broke ribs too? When did it happen?" Emma asked once the story was over.

"About two weeks into the deployment." Jason answered.

"And you kept operating? You're crazy!" she said with surprise.

"I didn't really have much of a choice with this deployment from hell. Clay went down like two days later, and then Metal, then Sonny, and then about three days before we left our last mission sent Ray, Trent, and Brock to the DL(disabled list) too.

"Oh my gosh! Is everyone gonna be ok?" Emma asked with surprise.

"Yea they should be after some time at home. They took us out of the rotation for a little while," he said, trying to ease the worry he could see in her eyes.

"Good! I have a long weekend and then can do my classes online for a little while so I can take care of you."

"Em, you don't nee…"

"I'm not debating it! I hardly get to see you anymore, and classes have slowed down after midterms so I have time! It'll be good for both of us." She said. Jason sighed and couldn't help but smile at how much she looked like her mom at the moment. They both laughed when Cerberus let out a woof from his spot on the couch.

"I think you meant all three of us!" Jason said with a laugh. Emma smiled and got up to make dinner, knowing that despite his protests, her dad wanted her there just as much as she wanted to be with him.