A quick bit of scene setting for this fic:
It's set after Bravo returns from Colombia/Venezuela and is canon compliant until 5x10; not offering any takes about the big arcs like Jason's TBI, only that (1) Everyone got back from deployment safe, (2) Clay and Stella's baby is still in the NICU but doing well, and (3) Grant is gone (and Davis knows Hannah's gone too), and Savis is back to their just-holding-back-from-crossing-the-line-again dynamic like in 4x03. Also, trying to figure out the timeline of this show gives me a migraine, so for the purposes of this fic, they conveniently came home in early December.
Though everyone came back in one piece, it's obvious that it's not all sunshine and rainbows for the team. So Soto suggested a Secret Santa to try to lift their moods; everyone grumbled at first at his "typical millennial cake-eater bright idea", but it caught on surprisingly quick and now they're all excited and competitive trying to one-up each other and sniff out who their Secret Santa is. And, of course, Sonny and Davis got each other, because why wouldn't the universe torture them even more?
Davis briefly glanced up at hearing the keypad beep and the main door to the team room open then close, doing a double take when she saw that it was Sonny who'd just entered, by himself. Glad for the opportunity, she grabbed the manila folder she'd been keeping in her drawer for the past few days, waiting to catch him alone to give it to him. Standing up to walk over to where he was rummaging around the kitchenette though, she was struck by a sharp feeling of nervousness. She knew it was ridiculous, why should be nervous to talk to her best friend? If you can still even call him that, her subconscious cruelly reminded her, that's what you get for spending the past year pushing him.
"Hey," she greeted, trying to keep it casual, only for him to mutter something in return as he continued digging through the fridge.
"Ah hah!" He announced proudly as he finally found whatever it was he was looking for, finally realising she was there when he turned around. "Oh, hey, Davis."
"What are you still doing here? Didn't Soto wrap up training a few hours ago?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, but, uh, turns out Princess left his hat here, asked me if I could grab it since he'd already scrubbed into the NICU."
"He left his hat in the fridge?" She raised an eyebrow, and he laughed.
"Nah, just thought I'd take one of his fancy protein shakes as delivery fees." He proudly held up the bottle. Then he spotted the folder she'd set on the counter and nodded at it. "Uh, what's up?"
"Huh? Oh, right. I, uh…" She fumbled a little as she picked the folder back up. "So I got you for the Secret Santa, and, uh, wanted to give you this."
He blinked at the coincidence (there's no way Soto could've known or fixed the draw, right?), then grinned as he took the folder from her. "A whole manila folder for Christmas? Aww, Davis, you shouldn't have," he teased, grinning as she scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"It's what's inside, genius," she opened it for him, letting him read the form inside.
"Leave chit? For… 22nd to the 5th?" His eyes brightened as he looked at back her. "Really?"
Smiling, she nodded. "Figured you'd want to be there for Leanne's first Christmas and New Year's."
"But… it's impossible to get leave during the holidays," he breathed, then reverted to his snarky self. "Well, at least for us peasants. You cake-eaters probably get the whole month off."
Ignoring his ribbing that she knew there was no bite behind, she told him. "Soto and Blackburn gladly signed when I asked them. Blackburn especially, he signed it before I even finished explaining. Lindell was… less thrilled about it-"
"Grinch."
"Yeah. Until Blackburn gently reminded him that the only reason he has to let you go now is because he unilaterally decided to ship you off to Laughlin in the first place. Begrudgingly signed it after that." She grinned, and he laughed.
"Wish I could've been there to see that." Then he paused and made a face. "Wait, so I have to thank Lindell for me having Leanne? Ugh."
She laughed and grabbed a second piece of paper from the folder. "Uh, I also talked to the Air Force guys. You got lucky, they just happened to have a training flight headed back to Laughlin from Norfolk on the 23rd, and a supply flight from Laughlin to Oceana on the 5th."
His eyes widened as he read the flight details, "Really?"
"Yeah, I mean, the price gouging on last-minute commercial flights during the holidays? Couldn't do that to you."
"I… I don't," she could hear his voice crack as it sank in for him that he would be able to be there for his daughter's first Christmas after missing too many of her firsts already. "You don't know how much this means to me, Davis."
"I knew you needed it," she smiled warmly at him. "Leanne needs it too, even if she doesn't understand just yet."
"Yeah."
Both felt how the mood shifted between them then, back to the painful familiarity of getting too close to crossing the line again. But as much as they both wanted it, yearned for it, they knew it couldn't happen. And definitely not in the team room on base, for sure.
"Go, go get ready already, cowboy," she made herself to break the moment, knowing that he knew her well enough to see through the grin she was forcing. "I mean, give Clay his hat first, then go start packing."
"Yeah. Yeah, uh," he stepped back himself. "Yeah, Blondie must be getting real impatient right about now. Better get going. I… Thank you again, for this," he held up the folder as he moved to leave, sharing one last smile with her before closing the door behind him.
[Later that day]
"Hey, Princess!" Sonny greeted Clay cheerily as he turned the corner to where the NICU was, nodding at Stella who was there too. "Mrs. Princess."
"Hi Sonny," Stella smiled, just as her husband snarked. "Did you bring my hat, or just your ugly face?"
"Look who's talking, Blondie Gollum," Sonny scoffed, but tossed Clay's hat over to him anyway and handed a very grateful (and hungry) Stella a bag of takeout. "Figured y'all could do with some good ol' greasy diner food. How's the little guy doing?"
"Much better. Doctors think he might be able to get out of the NICU in a few more weeks."
"That's great, man."
"Yeah. Wish we could've held him for his first Christmas, but- oh, shit, sorry." Clay cut himself off, misreading the flash of emotions across Sonny's face.
"Huh? Oh, no. No, man, it's, uh, it's all good. Real good, actually." Digging the folder Davis had given him out of his bag, he passed it over to Clay for him to read. "Turns out Davis was my Secret Santa, she got Soto and Blackburn to convince Lindell to give me time off to go be with Leanne for the holidays."
Stella awwed at that, "Don't think you could've asked for anything better, huh?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it, uh, it means everything."
"So what are you going to get her in return?" She asked with a smirk, and Sonny rolled his eyes at Clay.
"Of course you told her."
Brushing him off, Clay repeated his wife's question. "Pretty sweet coincidence you two got there."
Sonny huffed as he slumped into the chair on Clay's other side. "Ain't no way I can top this, man."
"How about something she'd always wanted as a kid?" Stella suggested, but Sonny shook his head.
"Known her over a decade, remember? Been there, done all of that."
"Okay, well, what's going with her life now?"
"Don't exactly talk much anymore," Sonny shrugged, trying to hide how hurt he was about that behind cold indifference. "Only thing I know is she's still dealing with the fallout of that paper, but it ain't like I can get Command to drop it."
Then his eyes fell on the Bravo logo on Clay's hat, and the wheels started spinning in his mind. Maybe he can't do anything about Command, but…
"… Sonny!" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Clay punching him in the shoulder. "You good, man?"
"Yeah, yeah," Shaking his head, a smile formed on his face as he knew what to get her. "Listen, I gotta go buy stuff and pack for Texas. I'll pop by again tomorrow?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer as he grabbed his manila folder back from Clay and stuffed it into his bag, standing up to leave. "See ya, buddy."
[23rd December]
Knocking on the open door to her office, Sonny stepped in to see Davis reorganising some files on the shelves. "Hey, this a good time?"
"Hey. Yeah, sure," She motioned for him to come in, her smile growing as she saw him wearing his backpack with his go-bag clutched in one hand. "Flight's wheels up soon, right?"
"Yeah," he grinned, dropping his bags on the floor as he walked up to her. "I really, uhm, I really can't thank you enough for that, Davis."
"Of course," she smiled, then saw how he was shifting his weight from one leg to another like he always did when he was nervous. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm fine. I, uh…" Fiddling with his cap, he chuckled nervously. "So, uh, turns- turns out I got you for Secret Santa too, and, uh, well, I don't- I don't know how to top what you got, so- Plus, plus the trip kinda ate into some of the time I thought I'd have to find something, so-"
"Sonny, it's fine. You don't have to-"
"I got you this," he gave her a plain envelope, with her name written on it in his distinctive, messy scrawl. "It… I know it ain't much, but it was the best I could think of right now. Uhm, uh, I can get you something else from Texas when I come back." His voice pitched up slightly at the end that it came out more like a question, but she didn't seem to hear it as she took the envelope from him.
Opening it, her breath hitched as she realized what she was looking at. A picture of the very first team they were both in together- Romeo platoon, SEAL Team 2- over a decade ago when they were both the new kids struggling to work their way up the ranks.
"Uh, it's all… it's all the teams we've been on," Sonny's voice brought her out of her thoughts as he motioned to the rest of the photographs still in the envelope. "All the different versions of the teams too, especially Bravo. Y'know, all the guys who were part of it through the years."
She glanced up at him before taking out the rest of the photos and flipping through them, feeling tears prick the back of her eyes at seeing their former brothers she hadn't had the time to think of in a while.
"A lot of those guys didn't make it back home, and- and I know too many who did," he exhaled heavily. "Too many of them probably wish they hadn't. I, uh, I know Command's been giving you hell for your paper, but I… I also know why you wrote it. You were trying to help us, stop us and the next generation of Team guys having to go through that again. I… I don't know, I thought it might help to remember why you did what you did, no matter what Command does to you. And know that all of us, we got your back."
She was silent for so long after he finished, just wordlessly going through the pictures, that he feared he had fucked up big time with what he had genuinely meant as a heartfelt gift. Only, just as he opened his mouth to apologize, she turned to him with a tearful smile.
"Sonny, this is really… this is- this means so much. Thank you."
"I, uh, I'm sorry Command hates you for trying to make it better for us-"
She cut him off with a scornful scoff, in spite of her tears. "Command hates me for showing them how bad they made it for you."
"Yeah," he sighed. "Well, hopefully this, uh, this helps you remember who you did it for. I- I mean, you might have just blown up your career looking out for us, and, well, I don't know if we deserve it, but we're all sure as hell grateful for it."
"You do deserve it," she told him resolutely. "I knew what I was getting into, Blackburn warned me as much. But I couldn't not do anything when I had the chance to."
"I know, that's the amazing person you are," he smiled at her, having to bite his tongue to stop himself from adding and that's why I love you. Daring to put an arm around her and squeeze her shoulder, he would've been happy with just her not pushing him away and slamming her walls back up again, never expecting to feel her lean against him. "Whatever happens, and I know this doesn't mean anything anymore, but I'm proud of you."
She nodded against him, her hair tickling his neck like he'd taken for granted too many times when they were together. "It does," she turned her head slightly to look up at him, "Thank you."
Their faces just inches away now, the tension and need between them dialled up to an eleven. Only this time neither of them tried to move away, and they stayed there for what felt like a fleeting moment and forever at the same time, neither wanting to be the one who broke the moment.
Until he caught sight of the clock on the wall behind her and he groaned, removing his arm from around her and running his hand over his face. "I, uh, I have to go," he nodded toward the clock. "Traffic to Norfolk could be bad, can't let those Chair Force punks leave without me."
"Right," she took a step back and cleared her throat. "Yeah, I didn't beg Blackburn to beg Lindell to let you go just for you to miss the flight," she shot him a small smirk. "Though maybe don't insult the guys giving you a free ride home for the holidays?"
"What they don't know won't hurt them," he grinned back at her. "Thanks again for that, by the way, really."
"Of course."
Picking up his bags, he turned to smile at her. "Merry Christmas, Davis."
"Merry Christmas, Sonny."
He stole one last glance at her before leaving, watching her go through the photos again with glassy eyes. He knew it had to hurt seeing all their fallen and former brothers, it had hurt the whole time he was going through his old albums and hard drives trying to find those pictures, but he also hoped it would help her remember that they were always a family, who unwaveringly had each other's backs no matter what.
And if anyone asks why every last one of the pictures had the two of them with their arms around each other as they beamed at the camera? Well, that's just a coincidence.
Just a little fic that came to me yesterday. Hope you enjoyed and please leave some love if you feel so inclined :)
