"Aw, hell no!" Jason exclaims as he sees Ray, Trent, Sonny, and Brock in the SUV outside his apartment. "No."
"You are going," Mandy tells him with finality. Jason turns to look at Mandy with a pleading look, "Not with these assholes!"
"Who you calling an asshole, asshole?" Sonny shouts from where he was seated in the back of Jason's truck. Jason turns around gives him a stern look and raises his hand to give him a finger in response.
"You better behave, Quinn or I'm telling Lisa!" Mandy admonishes Sonny who immediately quiets down.
"Please Mandy, just let me go by myself." Jason pleads at Mandy again.
"Jason, you know I can't do that." Mandy tells him "You need to be with someone when you go there, you tend to get a little carried away when you get to the steaks."
"Okay, yeah….but not them!" Jason whisper shouts at Mandy. "They're the worst people to bring grocery shopping with, cmon. Why don't you just come with me instead?"
"I still have a lot of things to do here, Jace…" Mandy explains again. "They can help carry all the stuff in, plus I gave you a list of things to buy…that shouldn't be difficult."
"Of all the things you can make me do…"Jason starts. "I'm not going."
"Why not?" Mandy challenges him which stumps him into silence. When he could not give a proper answer other than they are assholes, Mandy slowly nods her head and smirks "Yeah….that's what I thought….now go or you'll be late. I'll see you later babe."
Mandy turns to go back inside his apartment, not leaving Jason any choice in the matter.
"Don't blame me if there's more than one case of beer in the truck when we get home!" Jason calls after Mandy who merely waves him goodbye as she goes back in.
Then, he hears a honk from his truck. He turns back around again and sees Ray, who was seated in the front seat, honking his horn like a little kid. "Cmon Hayes, we got lots to buy!"
"Fucking Ass…"Jason grumbles as he walks over to the driver's seat.
"Whatchu say, man?" Ray teases him as he gets behind the wheel. "I didn't hear you…."
"Why are you guys here anyway?" Jason asks grumpily as he puts on his seatbelt.
"You really want us to stay with the womenfolk as they get ready for your damn birthday party?" Ray tells him.
"Mandy asked me to regulate…especially with your steak purchase," Brock explains.
"She sent me to at least check that we're not all about steaks…" Trent throws in. "She thinks I'm the sensible one." He says smugly.
"Sensible my ass." Sonny quips "You're the worst one of us all!"
"Why the hell are you here Sonny?" Ray asks as he turns to look at Sonny, annoyed at his whining.
"Mandy said I had to go with you," Sonny said, looking out the window with a grumble.
"What-" Jason starts "Three seals get scared of a little lady…."
"You're here grumbling with us, aren't you?" Sonny bites back which makes Jason even more grumpy and the rest of the boys laugh.
"Fuck you, Sonny." Jason says in return to which Sonny replies with "No thanks, Grumpy."
Jason starts the truck and drives over to the nearest grocery.
"Mandy says she has a list." Ray starts as he holds out his hand to get a look at it.
The other men flock towards Ray to get a look at the list to which Jason simply rolled his eyes and walked away grumbling. He grabs a buggy while listening to the boys go over the list.
"She ain't got none of those bbq sauce I like, Jace. Oh oh…she did not put beer." Sonny starts "Or do you already have those at home…coz if you don't…Imma get some…and you're paying."
"Can I get the list back, please," Jason says holding out his hand. "And no…only the items listed here and on this buggy will be paid for."
"Aw hell no….Imma go grab it now. You stay the fuck where you are coz you are paying." Sonny says as he walks quickly towards the aisle where his barbeque sauce was. "Why does it have to be in those fucking hidden aisles!"
"Cmon, quick," Jason says, now in leader mode. "Before that fucker gets here with his sauce, we split up. Trent and Brock, you take on the steaks. You better pick out enough for us or there'll be hell to pay."
Trent and Brock immediately grab a basket and get to the steaks in a run. Jason turns to Ray and was about to assign him somewhere else when Ray says "I ain't going anywhere but the vegetable aisle with you." and he starts to walk off.
Jason grumbles as he follows Ray to the vegetable aisle. He looks down on the list and back at the vegetables Ray was picking up when he suddenly realized something. "There are no beers on the list. Why wouldn't she put them in here? We won't have anything to drink."
Ray turns to look at him with confusion. "We bought several cases yesterday, Jace."
Jason turns to look at him and asks "We did?"
Ray walks over to him and pats him on the shoulder with a little laugh. "We did, man. You almost bought out the store last night. Mandy almost had an aneurysm when she found out. Remember?"
"Yeah….Yeah, we did." Jason laughed with Ray then immediately tried to change the subject. "Get those damned vegetables, man….Sonny's gonna finish soon…I'm not paying for those extra beers he grabs."
Ray laughs out loud and finishes grabbing the vegetables they'd need to finish the errand. As Ray turned his back, Jason admonishes himself and whispers to himself "Fuck" which Ray pretends not to hear.
As they get to the counter, they find both Trent and Brock already by the counter. Jason hurries over to pay for them but as he fishes out his wallet, he doesn't find it.
"Fuck. Hold on." Jason said. "I'll just grab my wallet. Forgot it in the truck."
Jason runs out of the store back to the truck to get his wallet, only to find that it wasn't there too.
"Fuck! Where'd I put it?" Jason asks himself as he rummages the truck for his missing wallet. He then fishes out his phone to call Mandy to which she confirms that he did leave his wallet behind. "Okay, I'm gonna get the guys and drive back to get it." He tells Mandy.
"I can just drive over there." Mandy offers Jason.
"Nah…It's okay. I'll just grab them first before they empty the store." He says with a laugh.
He runs back to the store to inform the guys only to find them already paying for the steaks. Jason hurries and tells them off.
"Hey! What are you guys doing?!" Jason exclaims, surprised at seeing what they were doing.
"Figured since it's your birthday, the least we can do is pay for the food we'll be gorging on," Trent answers as he pulls out his wallet to pay.
"You don't need to do that…cmon…" Jason says with a little laugh.
"It's not every day you get old", Ray says as he also in turn pays for the rest of the groceries. "We wanna celebrate your gray hairs, old man."
"Naw…you don't need to." Jason starts "I just forgot my wallet back at home….I can drive quick and back…"
"We got this man," Ray says as he helps put their purchases in the bag. "I ain't driving here and back again with Sonny"
The group laughs and suddenly hears "Fuck Yes! Just in time!"
"Damn…"Jason says with a laugh. "The ass got here in time!"
"I am not paying for this fucking sauce." Sonny says as he throws the two bottles Ray's way. "I forgot we bought those fucking beer cases yesterday."
Jason turns quiet then. He watches his teammates as they put all the purchases in the buggy and then suddenly blurts out "So you know."
Upon hearing Jason's declaration, the guys turn to look at him with sad smiles on their faces which confirmed Jason's suspicion.
He swallows hard and asks "Mandy tell you?"
Sonny snorts at Jason's question "You're kidding right?"
"Mandy never hinted us at anything." Trent explained, "We saw you two coming out of the VA hospital a week ago."
"We thought we'd goof around and follow you two. We thought maybe you two were hiding something from us." Brock added, "You know….the baby surprise kind…."
"…shocked the hell outta us when we heard one of the doctors talk about your case." Ray butted in.
Then it was silence. Jason, not knowing what to say, simply nodded and walked out of the store, putting on his shades to hide the onslaught of tears that were about to come. He didn't need to turn around to know the guys were following him back to the truck.
When finally they were able to load up all their purchases at the back of the truck, Jason turned to look at each of them and said "I handed in my retirement that same day too."
"Why?" Sonny asked, "I mean, you could get your treatment and hold off for a couple of months."
Jason smiled sadly as he shook his head "Yeah….that's not really the case, Sonny."
"What do you mean?" Ray asked.
"It never really goes away." Jason tried to explain. "It's there. There's no way to take it away only to relieve the pressure of things."
"Mandy know about the retirement?" Trent asked.
"Yeah." Jason nodded and snorted a little "There's nothing she doesn't know about me these days. It's why I thought she told you guys."
"Little Miss Spook was trained not to tell us things she's not supposed to," Sonny told Jason. "Wouldn't budge even when we showed her the pictures of you and her at the doctor's office."
"I think it's why she put us up with you today," Ray said making the guys laugh with him. "So she supports this?"
"She supports me," Jason said, looking up at the boys. "Told me if I wanted to still operate that she'd bring me to the tarmac and pick me up after every after mission. She also said if I wanted to hang up the helmet that she'd have something for me to keep me from climbing up walls."
"Oooohhh….she plan to give you some action, I see." Sonny teases making the others laugh.
"You're a fucking perv, you know that?" Jason teases back. "Ain't getting any that you're living it through me, Sonny boy?"
"Ass" Sonny grumbles in reply as they all laugh.
"Heard they wanted you up in command." Brock put in. The guys turned to look at him, Jason all the more, in surprise.
"How'd you know about that?" Jason asked.
"I have my sources." Brock explained.
"What? The lady kind?" Sonny threw in making the boys laugh. "Finally put those dog o'yours to work as wingman?"
"None of your fucking business, sauce head." Brock rebutted. "Don't need my dogs to get me some….unlike you."
"Oi! What're you on about, huh?" Sonny answered back ensuing a little word war between him and Brock.
While the little spat was happening in the background with Trent trying to pacify the two, Ray led Jason up to the front of his truck for a little privacy.
"Not thinking about going up instead?" Ray asked him.
Jason laughed and shook his head "Not really much of a cake eater, Ray. You know that. And in my condition, I don't want to jeopardize even more people with wrong decisions"
"You've never led us astray, Jace. Sure, we've had our differences but we always trusted your call. You always brought us home but I get it. It's a different kind of pressure up top." Ray nodded in understanding. "Well it's about time you scouted out the range outside the wire for us for when we get outta dodge, anyway."
Jason looked at Ray and smirked a little. "You saying you'd me follow me outta the wire too?"
"We go where family goes." Ray said as he patted Jason on the shoulder. "We're not always gonna be in this line of work, man. It just so happens mom and dad are already doing groundwork on the other side…."
Jason laughed a little while giving Ray a side eye. "Mom and Dad?"
"You and Mandy?" Ray laughed. "Hell yeah. Maybe….grandpa and Mom….I don't know…"
"Sick…you're sick man." Jason laughed out loud trying to hit Ray playfully on his arm.
After a while, both Ray and Jason look back at the still bickering boys, now Brock trying to pacify Trent and Sonny's little spat.
"We got your six, man" Ray said after a little while. "You've always had ours, you always brought us home….I think it's high time you get yourself home and enjoy the hell out of it. We'll all be there to support you like you always did us. Everything's gonna be better, you'll see."
"You take care of the boys while I'm out?" Jason asks Ray, pleading with him to look after the guys inside the wire.
"Always man." Ray promised. "Just make sure you got plans for us when we get out, too."
Jason laughed a little "Mandy and I are on it."
"See?" Ray laughed with Jason and said with a smirk "Mom and Dad."
Suddenly, Trent runs up to them and says "Can you please, for the love of God, put some sense into those two?"
Trent points out to Brock and Sonny who resumed their spat, now about who gets to sit by the window.
"I'm telling you meathead, I sit by the window!" Sonny says out loud.
"No." Brock answered. " You already got to sit by the window heading here."
"Children!" Ray exclaims. "Seriously? The freedom of people in the hands of children who fight over a window seat?!"
"He started it!" Both Sonny and Brock point at each other.
Jason rolls his eyes while laughing at the same time. "Let's just get the fuck home. They're gonna skin us us alive if we're any more late."
They all rolled into the truck with both Brock and Sonny finally getting their window seats and Trent sitting in between them.
As they unload the truck, Jason excuses himself to look for Mandy. When he gets in the house, he finds all the ladies telling poor Clay what else needed to be done as they watched him and Eric go to and from the kitchen to the dining table while sipping their drinks.
"You're back!" Mandy says with a full smile as she stands to meet up with him.
"Where're the others?" Naima asked. "Please tell me you didn't leave them at the store."
"Believe me, I was tempted." Jason laughs in response.
"Were they being children again?" Lisa asks as she stands to head outside and give Sonny a piece of her mind. " I swear to God that man…."
They all laugh as Lisa heads out to meet the others. Jason takes Mandy's hand and asks if they could talk in private to which she nods and follows him to their room.
"Everything alright?" Mandy asks hesitantly as Jason takes a seat on their bed.
Jason then looks up at Mandy and says "I think you know the answer to that."
Mandy sighs and sits beside Jason. She looks at him then and says "Did they confront you about it?"
"No." Jason sighs. "I had a very short episode that they caught."
Then, silence. The silence they had wasn't an uncomfortable one, only a silence that said 'This is it. This is the moment.'
Before speaking again, Mandy leans her head on Jason's shoulder, takes his hand and entwines hers with his. "What did you tell them?"
"Everything I know." Jason tells her quietly. "They need to know."
"You're right." Mandy says, waiting for him to further his answer. "And I'm happy you got to tell them."
Jason laughs at her then and looks down to her "They were hounding you?"
"Like you wouldn't believe…" Mandy answers with a laugh. "I didn't know Ray could be such a girl with his Please tell me Mandy…"
Jason laughs out loud making him and Mandy lie down on the bed with their feet still on the floor. After a little while, Jason looks to the side only to find Mandy already looking at him with a smile.
"Thank you." Jason starts.
"For what?" She asks.
"For letting me handle this." Jason explains.
"It was always supposed to be you who had to handle this Jace." Mandy tells him as she places her hand on his face and turns to fully face him. "You are your own man. You will always be the last say when it comes to your situation. What I am is only your support. I'll be behind you when you decide to face whatever shitstorm comes your way."
Jason nods in understanding. " I know." he whispers as he takes Mandy's hand on his face.
"I'll respect whatever decision you make Jason because I know you. You're the most selfless person I know." Mandy reminds him with a slight smile. "Just remember whatever hell will come, we are never out of the fight. Together."
Jason nods as he closes his eyes revelling in the comfort that Mandy has given him.
"Also, let it never be said that I'm the person who'll come gouging out anybody's eyes if they don't respect your decisions." Mandy says with a smile as she sees Jason laugh even with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, they hear a knock on their door making them look up from their.
"Please tell me you are not having an early birthday celebration while the rest of us are out here…" Sonny drawls "Coz that ain't right."
Mandy laughs out loud again and stands up, "Cmon big guy. They're waiting for you."
Jason stands up, breathes in deep and then opens the door to find Sonny waggling his eyebrows at him.
"You weren't, were you?" Sonny asks with a snort.
"You mean you didn't hear me cum?" Jason tells him "Coz I think I was loud enough."
"Awww hell no!" Sonny grumbles out loud. "You're sick….I was just pulling your leg, you didn't have to give me a blow by blow!"
Mandy laughs as she gets in between Sonny and Jason by the doorway, making sure to stop infront on Sonny as she wipes her mouth and says teasingly " Speaking of Blow…."
"Ah Shit No!" Sonny exclaims as he stomps away "You two are hell! HELL!"
Both Jason and Mandy laugh out loud as they head on over to the dining area where everybody was waiting for him. As Jason steps on to the living room, the whole gang (even the grumbling Sonny), starts to sing him a Happy Birthday with Emma and Mikey both holding out the cake infront of him.
When the song finishes, Emma tells him to make a wish and blow the candle….he does with a laugh.
"What did you wish for?" Mandy asked him as everyone made their way to the dining area to start the feast.
He looks at everyone in attendance; Eric and his new wife; Lisa palyfully slapping a grumbling Sonny; Trent holding out his phone for his partner to see the ongoing party; Brock petting Cerberus and Pepper as they wait for him to give them their treats; Clay holding on to his little girl with Stella beside him; his bestfriend Ray with his wife Naima and their kids; Emma and Mikey…all of them happy and healthy here with him and Mandy.
He looks back down to Mandy, gives her his most genuine and biggest smile and finally answers "This. All of this. This is all what I wished for."