Chapter Six : Another Scar on Her Soul
"You're here early." Jason commented when Theresa walked into Bravo's equipment room.
"Good morning to you too." Theresa snarked, walking into his cage and handing him of the two coffee's she made in the break room. She saw his truck in the parking lot when she drove in and figured that he was sitting and thinking in his cage. Apparently, he was helping Alana boxing up Nate and Molly's things earlier that morning.
"Thanks," He took the coffee and she walked to her cage that was across Jason's and next to Sonny's.
"How was it?" Theresa asked as she unlocked her cage. Slipping inside, she pulled off her messagener bag, dropped it to the ground Theresa turned back to Jason and dropped down in her own chair inside her cage, looking at him across the way.
Jason knew what she meant. Packing up Nate and Molly's things. "It was fine. Took a turn for the weird and awkward when I asked Alana out for dinner and she said no."
"Ouch." Theresa winced, before checking the time. Her eyes widened and she jumped up.
"So, what gives?" Jason asked, clear wanting to change the subject of conversation.
"About what?" The female Seal ventured as she put her coffee down on one of the four shelves.
"You being here this early." Jason elaborated as she pulled her curtains closed and started to put on her uniform. The guys put the railings up for her as a welcome to Bravo gift. Not that any of them would even try to peep, but they figured that she should have some privacy when she wants to dress and undress. One for her door, and one on each side of her cage. The curtains was a nice light blue, that the guys picked out themselves and Lisa makes sure that it gets washed at least once every three months.
"It's 8AM. What's that supposed to mean?" She frowned, pulling of her shirt and pants, rubbing her arms because of the slightly chilly air.
Jason chuckled lowly, "Means that you never show up here early unless we have a mission."
"Ah, right." Theresa nodded to herself, pulling her uniform shirt over her head. "Well, I have a class to teach in," She shook out her pants and looked at her watch before starting to pull them on. "-17 minutes."
"Look at you, being all grown-up and responsible." Jason teased as Theresa zipped up her pants and slipped her knife into her pants pockets.
"Ha ha." She deadpanned, pulling open her curtains. She grabbed her boots and a pair of bright orange socks. "This is only until Green training is done. Then I'm out." She walked to the table in the middle of the room and hopped up on it, facing Jason as she pulled her legs up and started pulling on the bright socks.
"Gonna do it again?" Jason asked as she started working on her boots.
"Heck no." Theresa scoffed, making Jason chuckle. She shoved her pants inside the legs of the boots before starting to lace them up and tie the laces. "Siever roped me into over seeing obstacle courses and a few other things as well. Which is what we're doing this morning, mind you. So, I guess I'm not teaching them anything today."
"Why did you agree to do it if you didn't want to?" Jason raised an eyebrow at her.
"He was yapping something about it improving my image, not that I give a shit about what the higher ups - expect for Eric - think of me. Eventually I just said yes to shut him up." Theresa shrugged, a sour look on her face.
"I'm surprised that you didn't punch him in the face." Jason noted, half-teasing, half-serious.
"I'd never, he's a good one." Theresa told him, her voice firm and fierce.
"You respect him?" Jason asked hesitantly.
She paused, pondering his question for a few seconds, then nodded. "I respect him enough not to lift a finger to him, no matter how irritating he can get, but not enough to follow his orders." Then she gave a half shrug, tilting her head with the motion. "Who knows, maybe one day I'd get to that point with him like I did with Eric." A rush of pride went through his chest at her words. He was always so proud when she evolved. It may happen at snail pace, but the point is that it happens.
"Right, well, when you get bored, you can always run the course with them." Jason grinned at her, pushing up from his chair and walking over to her. "You know, break down some ego's. Preferably that Spenser-kid's."
"Okay, I don't get your problem with him. Yeah, okay, his dad is an ass, but he's talented." Theresa said, watching as the smile dropped from his face. Figuring that he's not going to pick this fight with her, she changed the subject. "Also, I'm not going to get bored."
The grin returned, eyes teasing. "Ten years of life experience says otherwise." She gave him an indignant look, taking the knife out of her pocket and clipping it to the inside of her boot before jumping of the table.
"I don't get bored that easily." She insisted, frowning over at him.
"Tell that to someone who's toaster you didn't take apart at four in the morning 'cause you couldn't sleep and were bored." Jason retorted with a knowing grin.
Theresa rolled eyes at him and walked back to her cage, "I put it back together, didn't I?" She gulped downed the rest of her coffee before shrugging at him, "And I only took apart your toaster because you wouldn't give me a gun to disasemble."
"You were fourteen!" He exclaimed, pulling a face at her.
"I could asemble and disaemble a gun in under a minute at twelve." Theresa pointed out.
Jason's gaze turned sympathetic, "No twelve year old should know that."
"Doesn't matter now," She waved him off. "The four years I spent living with you, Alana, Emma and later Mikey, gave me some awesome memories to replace all of the bad ones with." She gave him a wide, real smile. "I should get going before Siever has my head for being late."
Jason nodded as she started walking backwards to the door, "Thanks for the coffee."
"No problem." Giving him one last grin, she dashed out of the room and made her way outside and to the obstacle course.
"Well, well, well, look who's early for a change." Adam teased as she walked up to him.
"What, is it pick on Theresa-day or something? First Jason, now you." She huffed, rolling her eyes as Siever chuckled.
"Let's get to work." He said and she hummed in agreement.
An hour later, they were watching as Green team members ran an obstacle course, her eyes flashing to Spenser's figure more than once. She watched him, he was fast as well as a good shot. And if Jason was right and she was terribly bored with standing around and doing absolutely nothing, well, she was never going to tell him.
"What do you think of Spenser?" Theresa asked out of the blue.
Adam gave her a sideways glace,"Why?"
"I think he'd fit well with Bravo." Theresa told him as they started walking to the last check point and the end of this obstacle. "He's a smartass, but we can beat that out of him."
"What does Jason think?" Adam asked after a few seconds of contemplation.
Theresa rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Jason still has his g-string in a twist because of his Ash Spenser's book."
Adam snorted a hearty laugh. "Lots of people do." He pointed out.
"Yeah, well, he didn't write it." The female Seal shrugged, nodding to the course, indicating that she was talking about Clay.
"Personally, I think he'd be a good fit for you guys to. Having someone like Jason Hayes teach him the ropes of Tier One? He'd make a heck of a team leader one day." Siever answered her as they stopped infront of the wooden wall. One Theresa herself has climbed dozens of times.
Theresa didn't say any else, just nodded her thanks to Adam as they waited. Spenser and his buddy Armstrong where the first heads that popped up. Theresa and Adam exchanged glances before turning back to the wall. The female Seal saw Brain pause to help a big man over the wall but Spenser jumped down and started rolling the tyre.
Grunting and breathing heavily, the two Greenies arrive at the end of this obstacle course. "Got some wheels on you, Spenser. Good finish, Brian."
"All right, come on, let's go. Finish it up. Got a big day in front of us." Siever said, walking away and towards the next obstacle course.
"Hey Four." Spenser nodded to her, taking a step closer to the female Seal.
"Spenser." She nodded back. "I know you are trying to be the best and to come first, I get why as well, but being the best doesn't mean jack if you can't work with a team."
"What does that mean?" Spenser answered, frowning slightly at her. She opened her mouth but her phone chimed up. She pulled it out of her pocket and read the text. Mission debriefing for Bravo.
"It means that no one wants to work with a cocky knucklehead that goes about his own way, knucklehead." She gave him a pointed look. "I gotta go." She waved her phone at him. "Duty calls."
"Good luck." He smiled at her.
"Thanks." Theresa gave him a small smile, before walking over to Adam and telling him that she needs to go, Bravo is being called in for an mission.
SEAL TEAM
"You're looking at satellite imagery of an abandoned hospital outside al-Hool in North-Eastern Syria." Mandy said as Theresa sat down on her seat inbetween Blackburn and Davis, after making herself a cup of coffee.
"Wait a second, I'm sorry, but there's a lot of tire tracks there for abandoned, I'm saying." Jason said dryly, pointing out what his whole team was thinking.
"We believe the Syrian Army is using it as a bioweapons factory." The CIA Agent told them and Theresa frowned at screen.
"Wait a minute." Ray interupted with furrowed brows. "Weren't they only supposed to be using mobile labs now?"
"I'm sure you all remember Dr. Lucien from our chem-bio desk." Amanda said and the Doctor stepped forward.
"Oh, no, Dr. Death." Sonny drawled and Theresa snorted in amusement.
"Hi again, everybody." The Doc told said and Theresa wriggled her fingers at him in greeting, smile pulling at her lips. He was quirky and she liked him. "Our recent success ID-ing and destroying mobile labs has convinced the Syrian regime to go back to using static sites. And they're choosing hospitals because they think we'll be afraid to bomb. DOD won't authorize a strike without definitive proof that the site's being used for chemical weapons production."
"If it's supposed to be abandoned, what's the harm?" Theresa questioned Mandy, raising a brow. "Not like Syrians can throw their toys out of the cot without admitting what they were doing."
Mandy shrugged, "They're being overly cautious." Theresa huffed at the answer.
"Okay, what does the DOD consider definitive proof?" Jason interjected.
"Physical evidence." Mandy answered and Theresa groaned. This was one of those missions she hated. Give her bullets flying from every direction over dangerous substances anyday.
The Master Chief's eyebrows rose, "Samples?"
"Gets better." Mandy warned.
"So, a satellite passes every seven hours, traverses the area for 12 seconds, takes six photos. Three passes ago, took these." Doctor Lucien said, and the photos on the screen moved to a picture with black shapes. First one only had a few, but the second one had a lot more.
"Those black shapes are?" asked Ray.
Mandy answered, "Dead cattle."
"Well, they definitely had a leak, didn't they?" Jason asked, looking over the pictures.
"Anyone else suddenly remembering when we had to recover one of the CDC's missing virus transport trucks in Mexico?" Theresa asked no one inspesific, looking around the table. She got a nod from Trent and Ray.
"Heavy fighting in the area last few days. We believe an errant shell hit the stockpile." Mandy explained what could have caused the leak.
Theresa looked down on her papers, checked the distance from where they would be to where the fighting is. "20 klicks; that's close." She said.
"Yeah, we'll be monitoring the Syrian troop movements best we can. Get you in and out in a hurry." Blackburn spoke up.
"How big is the guard force?" Ray questioned.
"Uh, so far, we make it a single six-man unit." Doctor Lucien answered him.
"You're telling me they got a chemical weapons factory and there's only six guys guarding it?" Sonny asked, not really understanding what he was hearing. Theresa tilted her head in thought. There was six of them and six hostiles. Seeing as how three, or even two, Seals could take down six guys easily, Bravo have no problem getting into the hospital.
"Yeah, enough that they were missed by the photo analyst. Not for the cows, we might never have found the place." Amanda answered.
"Either they're awfully sure no one would catch them, or they are just real stupid." Theresa noted, looking at the satellite images once again.
Ray looked at the two standing at the screens, "Best guess what they were making?"
Amanda leaned forward and gripped the table with her hands, "Based on the regime's history, sarin or VX."
"One of those is the bad ones, right?" Sonny questioned.
"Uh, sarin is pretty nasty stuff. Bucket full of it, kill every man, woman on the planet. But you're probably thinking about VX. It's widely regarded as the deadliest substance man's ever created." Doctor Lucien explained to them.
"Okay, both of them is bad ones then." Theresa quipped, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked down at the hospital plan that was in their briefing dossier. Taking over the hospital would be easy, they could take down the guards and get the samples. Problem is the Syrian troops that was fighting nearby. If they get so much as a whiff of their presence, they're done for.
"So, we're gonna actually have to handle this stuff?" Ray checked with them.
"I better update my will." Theresa commented dryly, running her hands over her head and pulling out her elastic band. Sometimes, the short hair was still a little strange for her. Pushing those thoughts away and focusing back on the conversation, she quickly tied her hair in a messy bun at the base of her neck.
"Do you even have a will?" Trent asked from behind her, amusement in his tone.
Theresea spun to him, "Yep," She nodded. "Got one after Iran." An uncomfortable silence fell on the room at her words and Doctor Lucien wondered what he was missing as guilt flashed on Mandy's face even if the words wasn't directed at her.
"Right, and who says you never take us anywhere nice?" Jason broke the silence with a wry smile.
The mission planning started immediately, Ray and Jason stood up to debate on how they are going get into Syria, while Theresa rolled her chair over to where Brock sat. He grinned at her as Cerberus came and nudged her legs, "How was your class?"
"Boring, they were running obstacle courses this morning." Theresa groaned softly, rolling her eyes and giving Cerberus a scratch around the ears.
Brock's face turned into a look of innocence that the female saw through, his eyes full of mischief, "Did you see your boy?"
"What boy?" Theresa asked, brows furrowed. A second later, realisation set in. Spenser. Huffing she, reached to cuff Brock upside the head. He ducked out of her reach just in time, shooting her a shit eating grin. "He's not my boy." Theresa huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Not yet, you mean." Brock retorted easily, smile on his face widening.
"Not ever, I mean." She snapped back, giving him a dirty glare.
"Denial," Brock tut-tutted, the smile on his face never wavering. "Such an ugly thing."
Her eyes narrowed, "You know what, I think you need to go see Doctor Kruger again. Being delusional can interfere with your ability to operate." Theresa said, her voice matter-of-fact.
"Hey, Meredith and Christina, pay attention." Jason whistled to Brock and Theresa, who immediately turned their heads to him.
Theresa gasped, eyes widening in mock surprise, "You watch Grey's Anatomy?"
"Pay attention." Jason repeated, giving her a stern look. Theresa immediately sobered up and nodded, tuning into the conversation as she and Brock both rolled to the table. The Master Chief started ith the mission planning again, "Look, we can't even get a drone up. I'm just gonna assume we can't chopper in."
"Russians are threatening to shoot down anything that crosses into Syrian airspace." Mandy told them and the female Seal started racking her brain for alternatives.
"What about jumping in, HAHO?" Theresa suggested after a moment of long silence and Jason grinned.
"Oh, yeah. HAHO. We bail out in Iraqi airspace, then fly to the target under canopy." Ray said, walking up to the monitor.
"That's right." Jason agreed. "The problem is getting out."
"How far to the border?" Ray questioned.
Mandy looked at the map, "18 kilometers."
"What's the nearest Quick Reaction Force?" Ray asked, looking at Lisa.
"Special Forces ODA working with Peshmerga at the border." Davis answered.
"Great, it's easy. Have them standing by. Once we secure the target, they come and they pick us up.
Boom."
"Hey, we've been seeing Russian troops on the border areas, yeah?" Blackburn looked at Mandy and the CIA Agent nodded. "DOD will never authorize any ground movement with the possibility of Russian contact." Eric said and Theresa rolled her eyes.
"DOD has no balls." Sonny quipped matter-of-factly, rising from his chair.
"We could get you local vehicles." Mandy suggested.
"How many?" The female Seal asked, looking over at the woman.
"I wouldn't count on more than two or three." Mandy answered.
"Two or three." Jason whispered, holding the numbers with his fingers.
"It could work. We keep our numbers small." Ray said, agreeing with the idea.
Jason considered this and looked at Lisa, "How many straps?"
"Well, it's Syria, so there's no BSO, there's no indig partners. Maybe two EOD's for the decontamination. You don't need a translator 'cause you got Ray and Trent." Lisa informed Jason and he mentally did a head count.
Ray walked over to the table where the rest of Bravo, save for himself and Jason was seated, "Okay, so, two EODs, that's all we need."
"Yeah," Lisa nodded. "And him." She pointed over at Doctor Lucien.
"What?" Ray asked as the whole table turned to the chem-bio doctor.
"It-It-It's not my idea, I assure you." Doctor Lucien told them, a look of dread on her face.
"Another contribution from the good-idea fairies at CENTCOM." Sonny noted sarcastically, throwing some dried fruits into his mouth.
Theresa scowled. This doctor had no field experience and now he was sent somewhere that was practically a warzone to work with deadly substances. "Is there this really neccesary?"
"We have no idea if that factory is still actively contaminated." Mandy answered her.
"Right." The female Seal nodded, clenching her jaw.
"What, the Syrians didn't clean it first?" Ray asked flatly, the look on his face blank.
"As far as we can tell, they just pulled their scientists out and, uh, locked the place down till they can pacify the area." Doctor Lucien told them.
Theresa looked around the table with a sarcastic smile, "So, who's up for playing with the world's deadliest substances?"
SEAL TEAM
"I'm sure we all remember the disater with Captain Garvey?" Theresa asked, breaking the silence that enveloped Bravo's equipment cage. After the planning was over, Bravo made their way to the cages to pack their bags and check that their weapons are clean and in working order.
"Yeah, we do, and I'm sure that if the same problem occurs, you'll be more than willing to give Doctor Lucien a kick up the ass as well." Ray quipped with amusement in his tone, remembering how she had shouted at the Captain to get his ducks in a row before she shoved him out of the plane when he froze on a HAHO-ramp.
"Well, that won't be neccessary." Jason said, getting up from his chair in his cage and Theresa looked over at him as he walked over to her and Sonny's cage.
"How's that?" Sonny drawled, shooting a look to his boss. Theresa looked over to the cage on her other side and looked at Brock with a knowing smirk. He shook his head at her with a light smile.
"Because the Doc will be jumping with you." Jason answered, looking and pointing at Sonny. The rest of Bravo snickered at the look on the Texan man's face.
Theresa cleared her throat to hide the laughter in her voice before she spoke, "Right, well, I'm hungry. Any of you wanna join me to consume some of the cafeteria's fine cuisine?" Her voice half-sarcastic and half serious.
"I'm in." Ray agreed, stepping out of his cage.
"Me too." Jason nodded.
"Me three." Sonny grinned as Theresa walked out of her cage.
"What about you?" She asked, looking at the two remaining members of Bravo.
"I'm good." Trent denied.
"Next time." Brock waved at her.
Theresa nodded, "Come on, gentleman of occasion, let's go."
"What the hell does that mean?" Sonny gave her a sideways glance.
"Just what I said." Theresa answered with a sweet and innocent smile, pushing her hands into her pants pockets. Jason and Ray took no offense to her words but Sonny kept mumbling and grumbling the whole way to the cafeteria.
After standing in line and getting their food, the four Bravo members took a seat - Ray and Jason next to each other, Sonny and Theresa opposite them. Theresa took a bite of food and once she swallowed it down, she looked at Ray. "So, Ray, how's Naima doing?"
"Good," He nodded, eyes lighting up like it always does when he talks about his family. "Tired all the time, but that's expected. We went to the doc this morning and said everything was all clear."
"You think of a name yet?" Sonny asked, stabbing his fork at his plate as Theresa took a sip of her orange juice before stabbing around her own plate.
"Yeah," Ray nodded, hesitating somewhat. "Nathaniel Raymond."
Theresa's head snapped to him. She swallowed thickly and placed her fork back down on her plate, appetite gone.
They say time heal all wounds. For Theresa that has been true. For the most part. See, what most people doesn't seem to realise, is that although time heals all wounds, the scars stay with you forever. Her whole life long, she's had to fight. And from those fights, she has scars that serves as a reminder to what she's been through, what she's lost and how she's survived.
Nate Massey's death is a fresh wound that will heal and eventually become just another scar on her soul.
But until then, it's gonna hurt. And it's gonna suck.
Adam Siever's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "All right, listen up, Green Team. Time for the first top five and bottom five of this year's Selection and Training. Today you get to judge each other. One side of your paper lists in order the top five candidates of this Selection and Training class. On the other side lists the bottom five. We'll tally the results. We'll post the bottom five on the wall in the team room. Bottom man in the bottom five will be immediately dropped from this Selection and Training class. Questions?
"Yeah." Spenser spoke up. "How come you don't post the top five?"
"At the Tier One level, top five candidates, just means you met the expectation. Anything else is unsat." Adam retorted.
"So-so guys in the top five, they don't even know if they made the grade?" Clay asked, looking and sounding indignant, and Theresa dropped her head on her palm, letting out a sigh. Did he not hear what she said about being cocky?
"End of this Selection and Training, if you're still here to get drafted into a Tier One squadron, then you know you made the grade." Adam glared at the blonde. "Is that clear, Mr. Spenser?"
"Yeah."
Theresa groaned and laid her head on Sonny's shoulder. "He has no ears." She mumbled.
"What?" Sonny frowned down at her, making Jason and Ray look over at them.
"I told him that no one likes working with a cocky ass." She rolled her eyes, turning around slightly and when Spenser caught her eye, she glared harshly at him. "I don't even know why I bothered, he obviously didn't listen."
"His loss." Ray shrugged, looking over at the blonde as Adam walked over to their table and he and Jason began bickering.
Author's Note: Okay, I get that some of you want more Tessa/Clay scenes, but this is still the begining. I write realistically and realistically there is no reason for Clay and Tessa to interact out of his Green training right now. I know the scene for them in the begining is small, sorry for the dissapointed ones, but I try my best to deliever with where the story is at.