Chapter 10

Clay was released from the hospital the following day, but unfortunately, Liz was held captive in their room for a few more days. The doctors were still concerned about her neck swelling and lungs as she did have a few hiccups along her healing process as her breathing was not as strong as they wanted before releasing her.

Liz woke up in an aggressive mood that the team regularly would know to avoid her like the plague unless they wanted their heads chewed off and stomped all over. She would tell them it was because she would be alone and still stuck here, but in reality, it was due to hearing Clay's phone going off all night, and all she could think of was Rebecca. As miserable as she was, she could not wait for Clay to leave so she could be alone and have her pity party and dwell in her own created misery, as she had no claim to him. It was doubtful he returned any of her feelings, so why was her head stuck up in the clouds at the thought of him wanting to be with her?

She heard the rustling of Clay slowly packing his belongings, trying to be quiet as she tried to give off the impression she was still sleeping. She refused to open her eyes and turned over to acknowledge his presence. But that peace of him thinking she was asleep was shattered as the whole team and Blackburn came barreling in, carrying coffee and breakfast for everyone. Ignoring the shushes from Clay to lower the noise, the group gathered around with their chairs still littered around the room. They are not known for doing anything delicate as they all can resemble bulls in a China shop and little children in a candy store, and today was no different.

"Hey Tinkerbell, you can't sleep all day now; you're going to make Peter Pan jealous with all your beauty sleep." Sonny joked as he sat beside Liz's bed. And she grunted and pulled the blankets over her head and pretended to sleep.

"Cerb, get Liz," Brock ordered as he went around to all his friends seeking pets and any breakfast dropping on the floor, knowing someone would break and slip him a bite.

Cerb padded over to Liz and nudged her arm under the blankets. Liz peeked out under the covers while still hiding her face from the team, put her finger to her lips to shush him and shoo him away, and closed the blankets back up again. Cerb then cocked his head with excitement that he had his pup, and she was awake; he then jumped up on the bed towards her head and started to dig his head into her and under the blankets finding her face and covering it in slobber kisses as Liz groaned.

"He can't miss out on his good morning Liz kisses and hugs." Brock laughed.

"Traitor," Liz mumbled towards Cerb as she shifted into a sitting position. He settled between her legs looking up at her and resting his head along her stomach with his tongue flopping out to the side with a grin and turning his head.

Sonny started to laugh as he knew she was not a morning person and never was pleased to be woken up with the team loud and cheery around her. Liz shot him a glare that would intimidate someone who did not know her.

"Woah there, Lil missy, who peed in your cornflakes this morning, I thought you would be pleased to finally have the room to yourself and not have to deal with Ken doll over there fretting." Sonny shot up his hands in surrender and laughed.

Jason and Trent snorted a laugh as they glanced over at Clay's face; he looked like someone just stole his candy and was eating it right in front of him. As the team chatted and finished their coffee, the moods lightened and relaxed, and the nurses came in with Clay's discharge papers and did another exam on Liz's breathing status; she was improving, and her strength was up.

"I hate to ruin all the fun, but we need to get this AAR complete as the brass is pressuring to know what happened that sent two Tier One operators to the hospital in critical condition when all intel mentioned a low-level mission," Blackburn said as he noticed everyone's posture stiffen. "And we need to get all you lazy asses back to work, and you can only skip out for so long."

As the team went through their events until the moment of separation, Clay and Liz took over and started to tell their story. The team kept barging in with questions and looking for clarification about how they got out of the building, managed to get to the cliff, and what the hell happened with Clay getting shot as the last two soldiers were nowhere to be seen when they all slipped from the building to be on top of those two along the tree line. When Liz mentioned what she did for Clay medically, Trent couldn't help but beam a little as she performed her first aid perfect and kept him hydrated, and that was a step most teams men with basic training seem to forget as they always rely on an IV they assume their medic has. They kept going in their explanation about them attempting to maneuver through the forest to the clearing and how Liz left Clay to scout the overly exposed area, as it was a kill box. With her trying to scout and bring Clay with her, it would almost guarantee their deaths if she did not have a plan and confirm the lack of enemies present to make it across. At this point, Clay was leaning forward, listening to Liz as he could not remember anything else past this point except her scream; truth be told, there were gaps even before this moment as he had missing parts since the RPG rattled their world. As Liz told the story up until Sonny and Jason came to get them, the team tensed, held their breaths at some points and clenched fists at the mention of being strangled by her rifle; she was helpless with being stabbed, and the damage to her shoulder and still tried to get her and Clay out of there alive. This was the first time Clay heard what happened, as no one had told him earlier, and he could all but feel the bile rise in his throat as he choked it down. At this point, Sonny took over with the next steps of climbing the hill and then Trent completed the AAR with everything that happened up until they landed at the hospital.

The team wrapped up the report, and Blackburn left, knowing they needed time as a team to settle down again and would return to base within the hour. Once everyone was ready to go and Clay finished his discharge papers, they gathered their things and slowly filed out. Sonny was taking Clay home as he did not have his truck, and as they were about to walk out the door, Clay stopped and looked back at Liz. Sonny caught the hint as he grabbed Clay's bag from him, walked out the door with a smile to Liz, commenting he would check in after work, and went to wait for Clay down the hall.

Clay walked to the side of Liz's bed and grabbed her hand in his as he got her attention. "I didn't know what happened, but I am so happy you are ok; I could not imagine what it would be like to lose you." As his emotions took over, he stumbled the words out and leaned in for a hug that Liz gladly returned.

As he pulled away, he stayed close to her face and looked into her eyes, and he could see so many emotions that broke his heart and one that just as quickly was putting the pieces back together. Was it love, or was he mistaken? He leaned a little closer, and his gaze dropped to her lips and quickly bounced back to her eyes. But as he was cursed with cursed timing, his phone started to go off, and he growled inside as he slowly pulled back.

"You better get that; I don't want you to leave her waiting. And I'm still tired anyways. I'm going back to sleep now that I have some peace and quiet." Liz snarked as she shifted on her bed to lie down and rolled over, so her back was facing him.

Clay stood there stunned a little and pondered if his emotions were only one-sided. Over the next few days and not seeing her every day, he could get over them and not act as crushed as he felt around her. He just nodded once and walked out to join Sonny. Liz huffed and turned on her back as one tear rolled down her cheek. Did she imagine him looking at her lips and leaning in? Yes, she had to have as he had Rebecca; her mind raced. Well, bring on the pity party, she thought to herself as she willed herself back to sleep.

…

Liz was soon released from the hospital, and she let the boys know over their group text while they were at work and while Clay was in rehab as she didn't want to deal with everyone today and wanted some time alone. She asked Niama to get her from the hospital and bring her home, and she insisted on going grocery shopping for her and helping her settle into her bed for a quick nap before Davis showed up. She was only allowed to leave a few days earlier than the doctors would have liked if she had someone stay with her and keep an eye and have them promise Liz would call Trent if anything happened and would go to their base medical center for regular check-ups to ensure her lungs, throat and arm healed correctly. Liz reluctantly agreed to this and pondered over the list of contacts in her phone she was willing to ask to stay with her; Sonny and Jason's names popped into their mind, but she quickly shut the idea down. Usually, this job would fall on Clay, and he would gladly stay with her on her couch, but she did not want to interact with him right now. She was forcing herself to go through a Clay detox, so by the time deployment rolled around and she was cleared for duty, she would be fresh and lighter, not pining over him and her thoughts about Rebecca. Liz scrolled right to Davis's number and knew she would stay with her for the next week until she was cleared to live alone and finish her healing.

Davis texted her after her shift that she was heading over after she grabbed a few things at home and that the boys caught wind she was home and settled now and planned to come over with pizza and beer. Liz groaned and wished she could go back to sleep and pretend she was not home when they all showed up. But Davis beat the boys over and welcomed them all in.

The evening was enjoyable and pretty relaxed as they all sat in her small apartment enjoying the pizza and beer, well root beer in her case as she was still on some painkillers and a light sedative to help her sleep at night to get through the nightmares she had of being woken up with the hands of the monster around her throat. She had not told anyone about these dreams, but Davis was now sharing her bed as she stayed over and was woken up a few times to Liz's screams, recalling the events before she had to shake her awake.

Over the next few weeks, Clay finished rehab and was cleared to join the team on a few training exercises and one minor security op before deployment. The boys kept busy with work and spent as much time with their families before they were deployed for three months. Davis and Niama checked in often and dragged Liz out of her apartment as much as they could as she was digging herself slowly into a slump. She would not have the team over and did not want to go out when they insisted she join them at The Bulkhead after work, and she even got as bad as minimal replies through text and avoiding all calls. She was never big on talking on the phone, and the team knew it, but it started to worry them, and she seemed to only let the girls in. Even Clay was shunned, and he had no idea why. He thought their time together in the hospital eased any tension with them over Rebecca, and he assumed one of the team members let it slip that he broke up with her before the op. Although she chased him back when he was in the hospital, he was happy to stay alone for a while and recover. Liz never brought her up or asked about her, so he thought she knew and was floored by her response to shut him out. The team was floored as well, knowing that they had an unbreakable bond and only seemed to solidify it with their trauma together, but they decided to chalk it up to her being grumpy; she was stuck at home while they were working.

….

Clay and Liz were finally fully cleared for full duties the day before deployment. The team was called in to pack their belongings and provide a list of equipment they needed to be loaded on the plane. So the next day, they had no other responsibilities but to show up with their clothes and the few personal items they brought from home and show up on time. Sonny had a hard time with that one, as his pre-deployment routine was to lift weights with Jason the night before and then head out to his usual drinking spots for the remainder of the night.

As Liz walked into the cage room, the rest of the boys were already there and in their cages, sorting out their items.

"Oh hey, look who finally decided to grace us with their presence! Not having your chipper sarcastic face here has been too long to keep the boys in line." Jason smiled as he walked over and hugged her.

The rest of the team followed behind him, giving her warm, welcoming hugs and small whispers of welcome back.

"It will be nice to have the wonder twins back together again. No more sulking from Wonderboy over there all day that he is missing his Wonderwoman." Sonny only half-joked as he was worried, listening to Clay fret over being shut out of Liz's recovery. Everyone was concerned about her, but Clay could not settle and let her have time to heal, especially when Davis came and told them all that she was having nightmares. "Although I'm mad, we have to go back to JBad for deployment, and If I didn't have to see that place for e few years, I would be happy. These two going there are a jinx, and I do not want all that bad juju to follow us for three months!"

" Only you would think someone else's problem can be passed onto you." Brock laughed at Sonny as complaining was his second nature.

Sonny snorted and galed at Brock, "If something happens to these two, I'm sending your sorry ass in to pull them out of the fire. I warned you all!"

Everyone laughed and shook their heads as they returned to their cages as they all knew Sonny would be fighting tooth and nail to be the first to go in and get his family.

Clay glared at Sonny as he reached in to hug Liz and snuggled his head in her neck as he pulled her close. Liz was a bit reluctant to return his hug at first, but then she reached up, pulled him close, and snuggled in as she was finally back with her best friend. They held each other for a bit longer and then released, looking back at each other with grins plastered on their faces and walked towards their cages together. As they parted, Clay reached up his arm and held his fist out to her, and she smiled and reached up with the side of her fist and bumped the bottom of their fists twice and then their elbows. This was the usual lucky handshake they performed before each op as a ritual, and to them, it showed each other they always had their backs.

Maybe that was why the last op went so wrong, Ray wondered; the wonder twins failed to perform their ritual as they were on the outs personally with Rebecca in the picture. Now that she was gone, things would fall back into place as they were all home and together.

At least, that's what he thought for now.