Chapter 25

I love you. Those three words kept playing over and over inside Clay's head as he finally connected his lips with the girl he had been dreaming about for the past year. Clay could not help but smile into the kiss as he moved one of his hands from Liz's cheek and slowly trailed down her neck and arms to wrap around her waist and pull her closer as she let out a soft moan into his mouth with his grasp.

Liz let go of his shirt, wrapped her hands around his neck, and slowly played with the curls at the base of his neck, hiding under the brim of his backwards hat. Just as Clay squeezed her side as he pulled her closer, she let out a quiet moan, reached up further under the brim, and gave his hair a rough pull, earning herself a muffled groan.

Neither sniper wanted to let go and back their lips away, but unfortunately, breathing was not optional. As they pulled out, they still held onto each other afraid to let go and rested their foreheads against each other, breathing heavily as they fluttered their eyes open, trying to lock onto each others lust filled globes. But the pure happiness that radiated off them caused their smiles to grow so large they could hardly keep their eyes open in the bliss. This was the missing puzzle piece they both needed and the love they craved and had lacked. The kiss was like their drug, and now that they experienced it, it was all they craved, and they started slowly leaning back into each other's lips before they heard a throat being cleared behind them and jumped apart.

"Um, sorry to interrupt here, but um… we have been called in; I was not sure if your cab had come yet and was hoping to catch you before," Sonny grumbled as he tried to hide the grin plastered on his face as he looked down while rubbing the back of his neck. He was not embarrassed at all and actually was giddy and jumping for joy inside but decided it was best to play it cool as the rest of the team was due to come out those doors any moment once their tabs were paid. "The rest of the team should be out shortly, and we can all pile into Trent and Davis's cars."

Clay took Sonny's last comment as a hint that they needed to create some distance between them if he did not want to go into a long-winded explanation. No one but Liz and Jason knew that this relationship was approved within the team by him, so to Sonny and Clay, this still needed to be a secret no matter how much Sonny shipped this relationship and supported his best friend and baby sister.

Just as the doors opened and the rest of the team slowly emerged, Clay was moving over to Sonny's side and being grabbed in a headlock as Sonny joked and quietly teased him about what he had witnessed.

"So you know, I am all for team Lay," Sonny whispered as he came up with yet another nickname for the pair, combining their names as best he could on the spot. And then he bursts out into a fit of laughter as he realizes the name he spat out.

"Real classy of you, Sonny, but what else would I have expected? Lay, really?" Clay chucked as he wiggled out of Sonny's arms and grabbed him in a body hug; they both started to wrestle like a bunch of children.

"Hey, don't you hurt yourselves; I'm not in the mood to fix you, and we have to go in to see Blackburn. And I do not want to come up with yet another story of how the battle buddies strike again." Jason huffed out with a chuckle as he watched his two team members wrestle each other to the ground on the grass next to the parking lot.

"Awe, Jase, you know there is no battle here; I am always superior to Blondie here." Sonny teased.

"Ah, Sonny, I hate to burst your bubble here, but Wonderboy did not get his name for nothing. We have seen him go one-on-one with others in the ring and on the battlefield. I'm pretty sure he has knocked you on your ass way too many times to count." Trent pipped in as he walked over to the two, still going at it but now standing at least. They looked like children on the playground teasing each other at this point. When they did not stop with his glare as he stood in front of them, he grabbed their ears like a mom scolding their children, pulling them apart as they quietly whimpered while clutching at his hands. The alcohol they ingested dampered their strength and pain tolerance.

Liz could not help but giggle as she was still on her high as she was leaning onto Davis with their arms looped in hers. As Liz leaned forward and smiled, Davis gave her a questioning glance and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Liz shot her a whisper.

"Oh, you tell me."

"What do you mean? I'm lost here."

"Are you now? Is it because those swollen lips are sucking all the blood from your brain?"

With that remark, Liz froze, lifted her free hand to her lips, and blushed. She forgot about the consequences of her lip lock session with Clay only minutes ago. "Ahhh, would you believe it if I said I got them stuck in a bottle?"

"Defiantly not. And I better get all details after this briefing or whatever meeting Blackburn called us for." Davis winked at her as she slowly turned around and headed to their car, dragging Liz with her and Jason following as she did not get a chance to have too many drinks this evening yet and somehow became a DD.

"Come along, children," Jason called out over his shoulder, motioning for them to follow and pile into Trent's car.

….

"What? I thought we had two weeks off?" Jason barked as he paced the room once they all piled in from various locations thinking they were all free for their much-needed time off.

"I know. I'm sorry. This is a time-sensitive op, and I guess Delta is still not ready for duty and Alpha and Charlie are still out in South America. I tried Jase." Blackburn shook his head, knowing what he was asking of them was not fair and a bit ruthless as they had not even been back twelve hours from their three-month deployment, and this new op was going to be a few days at the least.

"How time-sensitive is this thing?" Ray questioned.

"The target you will extract will only be out of hiding for the few hours before the meeting he will now not be attending, and then he will go back underground. He knows he is not safe where he is, so this is our only shot at getting to him." Mandy pipped in as she put the HVT's image on the screens. "General Markov."

"We are seriously going after a General?... For Russia?" Clay asked in shock. This was a suicide mission if they got caught. They would be killed on the spot as soon as they were spotted in Russia, and if they missed their marks or anyone found out where they were from, a war would break out.

"Yes." That was all, Mandy replied bluntly. She knew nothing she would say would help the situation. The team knew how dangerous this op was.

"He is willing to flip, and we need all the intel he has on his thumb drive about their nuclear program," Blackburn added.

"A hundred thumb drives would make this suicide op more worth it. We are seriously risking it all for one man?" Liz huffed as she snorted and shook her head.

No one wanted to do this, but they knew they had no choice. Once the brass put things into play, there was no way out, and this General was such as highly valued target they would do anything to get him and would not take no for an answer.

"Wheels up in two hours, and you have time to sleep and sober up on the plane. I'm sorry, guys." Blackburn ordered out and gave an apologetic smile as he headed towards the door, Davis and Mandy following along.

"Fuck." All that, the quietest member of Bravo mumbled out as he sat in his chair petting his dog, which had forced himself onto his lap.

…..

18 hours later- Mongolia Military Base along the Russian Border

"Ok, is everyone clear with the plan?" Jason asked as he got a round of mumbled yups and nods. "Clay, can I talk to you?"

Jason was starting to panic internally, although he would never show anyone. He knew they all came up with a solid plan together. Still, Clay saw the matrix, and he needed to run through it one more time and get another perspective without the rest of the team pipping up, as this mission was a ride-or-die situation, and he was not losing anyone on his team or taking any risks. They all gave valued input and oversights to possible flaws, but when Clay was alone and had a little more time to process his ideas for possible scenarios, he always came up with more ideas or defects that would have never crossed the team's mind, even Jasons, who thought he had an excellent grasp at the so-called matrix that the military revolved around. Clay could see everything and anything, along with his keen eyes and hearing; he was a force to be reckoned with for the brass and would move up to lead his own team, breaking records within the SEALS. He already broke all the records in training and could not be stopped.

As Clay nodded to Jason to follow him to the corner with his maps, he glanced at Liz. She sat there silently, eyes slightly pleading with him to say no so they could talk. She knew he was unable to, and she would never ask him to when Jason asked for his input, but she could not help herself from getting annoyed at the fact they had not been able to talk alone about the events that unfolded outside the bar. From Sonny's coming out till now, they have never been alone and had to prepare for their mission. It was work time, which meant they had to put everything personal aside and get their heads in the game. Work always came first in this field they chose to engross themselves in, and they knew this, and so did their families, no matter how much they wanted to object.

"Everyone rest up and grab something to eat. We roll out in two hours." Ray directed as he noted Jason and Clay were now engrossed in their world in the corner and would not come up for air until he went over and dragged them out to pack their rucks.

"So you finally have time to provide me with those much-needed details as to why your lips swelled up like balloons," Davis whispered, and she looped her arm onto Liz and lifted her from her chair to head to the base mess hall to grab some food. More so to find a private area to talk away from the boys, as she knew Liz was worried in her head about the dangers of this op and would not eat much.

Sonny was sitting beside Liz when he heard Davis's attempts to hush whispered and looked over at Liz, causing her to blush as he wiggled his eyebrows at her knowingly. He was more overprotective towards Liz as she was his little sister, and he made every attempt to tease her, but when it came to something as personal as this, he knew this topic was not allowed, and he had too much respect for her to break those boundaries. She knew he would not say anything to anyone, and she trusted him with her life and secrets, but she knew he would, without a doubt, bust Clay's balls about this at any given moment.

As Liz and Davis hurried off out of the room and down the hall, they could hear the boys starting up a friendly banter as they munched on power bars at the table in their makeshift TOC, waiting for the time to pass to head over to their temporary bunks with their weapons cage to start packing their rucks.

Before they even made it to the mess hall, Liz pulled on Davis's arm, stopping her as she was about to explode with this information she was trying to process alone, not having access to Clay personally until the end of the mission.

"Clay kissed me."

Davis gasped and let out a slight squeal as she hugged her best friend and stepped away with the biggest smile plastered on her face. "So you finally apologized to him then, hey? I told you he would forgive you."

"Well, no, well, maybe kinda. I think I did, but I'm not sure I did not even think before I just blurted out words hoping he would listen to me and not run. And I may have... Well, I may have told him I loved him."

"Oh wow. You defiantly do not do things halfway, all in or nothing. Well? Did he say it back?"

"Not in words, no. He kissed me, and then Sonny came out…."

"Damn. But sounds about right. That Texan has never had good timing even if given a step-by-step plan."

"Tell me about it. Cock blocking like a true brother." Liz huffed as Davis snorted and burst out laughing, nodding, understanding that the boys on the team will always have each other's backs but will always ruin all special moments unintentionally. It's in a male's nature.