Chapter 15

I know I always thank you all for the support, but seriously THANK YOU! I'm glad that everyone is enjoying this story and apparently keeping you on my toes. Funny thing is I think I'm keeping myself on my toes as well as I write all this out.

Lisa stared at the light the doctor was shining in her eyes. Like last time she had gotten attacked, she had concussion and small gash to the head. A nurse had stitched up her cut and putting her through concussion protocol.

"You look to have a mild concussion. Make sure someone is with you tonight just to make sure it doesn't develop into anything serious," the doctor said.

"Don't worry doc. I'll look after her," Sonny said standing next to the doctor looking at Lisa.

After the doctor left Sonny stood in front of Lisa in silence. On one hand he was grateful Lisa was okay but he could tell she was shaken up. On the other hand he felt terrible that it seemed Mandy took the brunt of it all. He looked around and saw the rest of the guys looked to all have been cleared by medical as well.

"Talk to me Lisa," Sonny said softly.

"She gave me the vest," Lisa said. "It's like she was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice."

"What do you mean? I'm sure Mandy has been doing the job long enough to be prepared for the worst," Sonny said as the rest of the team listened in.

"I guess. She stayed conscious enough to give me intel," Lisa said shakily.

"We'll figure this out. I think we can all agree that Mandy won't sit on the sidelines on this one. Like Blackburn said, we just need to regroup and then we'll work on getting the bastards that did all this," Sonny said. "Listen, I know seeing a friend injured and on the brink of death is terrifying but you're strong and so is Mandy. I'm not going to tell you it's all going to be okay because this will stick with you for a long time. What you need to remember is you both fought like hell and survived."

"If I was a second too late, Mandy would be-," Lisa said looking at Sonny.

"But you weren't, okay? You weren't. You heard Trent. She's going to be okay," Sonny reassured Lisa.

"Maybe I should start going through the camera footage-," Lisa began saying.

"No, what you need to do is take a moment to breath. We're going to follow Blackburn's advice and take moment here. Something bigger is going on here and something tells me Mandy's going to need all of us in her corner," Sonny said.

"How could I not see it with Reiss?" Lisa said to herself.

"It happens to the best of us," Sonny replied.

"Yeah but I'm sure Mandy saw it. She told me from the beginning Reiss had an ego. She never quite trusted him. She confronted him about Samin and look how that turned out."

"I'm sure Mandy would tell you that you can't see it all. No one is perfect and invincible, Lisa," Sonny said with a comforting hand on her shoulder.

At that moment Ray walked into the area of medical they were in.

"Everyone good here?" Ray asked seeing everyone nod their heads in acknowledgement.

"What about Jason?" Trent asked.

"He got cleared by the doctor. He was headed to Mandy's room," Ray replied.

"Going to be tough to tear him away from her side," Brock said as Cerberus made whining sound in acknowledgement.

"She have anyone to call back home," Clay asked.

The team looked at each other. No one knew much about Mandy's personal life. They never saw her with any family or heard her talk about family. The team can't even remember Mandy ever bringing a date to any of their outings.

"I'm not sure but I'm sure Blackburn is on it,' Ray said.

Jason walked down the hall towards the room Mandy was in. He had just washed changed and washed Mandy's blood off his hands. He was trying to prepare himself for what he would see. You would think with all that he'd seen he would be prepared but he never was.

This wasn't just another brother who served alongside with him. It was someone he cared for immensely who he, dare he say it, loved or knew would come to love. Mandy was truly the first woman he thought he could fall in love with and have a future with since Alana passed. Sure he had been with Natalie for a short amount of time and thought he was all in but Mandy was different. She pushed him yet gave him his space and understood him in a way most people didn't. Maybe it was because the two similar in more ways than one.

Jason got to the door of Mandy's door and put his hand on the door knob. He took a deep breath as he opened the door to take a step into the room. He turned around to quietly shut the door before turning back and stopping in his place. Mandy was laid down on the bed with her upper side slightly inclined up so she wasn't stretching out her stab wound too much.

She wasn't awake and probably wouldn't be for a little while. Jason thought about all the times he'd watched her sleep in the moments they were together. At the time he thought she looked peaceful and at ease when she was asleep beside him. In a hospital bed, she was quiet and still.

Jason walked up to the bed and pulled one of the nearby chairs closer to Mandy's bed. Before settling down in the chair he let one of his hands go to her head to stroke her hair and down to her cheek. She was alive, he had to remind himself. Mandy was okay and would make a full recovery. He leaned down and kissed her forehead softly letting his lips linger for the physical contact.

Jason sat in the chair and immediately grabbed Mandy's hand in both of his. He needed the physical reminder that she was still here. He thanked every higher being out there for letting him keep her.

As Bravo 1, he always made it his job to protect his team and make sure everyone made it back home. He did everything he possibly could to ensure that happened. Being team leader he thought about every possible situation he and the team could be in. He had to make the tough calls every single day and live with the outcome. What he never told anyone is that right before each call he makes, he imagines it all going to hell. He'd imagined on multiple occasions losing someone from Bravo.

Had he ever thought about losing Mandy? No, never in a million years. Sure he knew she was a spy and she'd probably been in plenty of dangerous situations but he knew she was tough and would fight her way through anything. He saw how she fought to keep the team safe despite her paying the ultimate price for it. When things went wrong, he saw how she beat herself up just like he did when a mission failed.

As he sat there holding her hand and watching, a nurse walked in.

"Hi," the nurse said smiling gently at him. She checked a few of the monitors and spoke again, "Her vitals are good. She had a nasty bump to the head but she'll be just fine."

"That's good," Jason softly spoke. "When will she wake up?"

"Hopefully in a few hours," the nurse replied. "I'll be back later to check on her," the nurse said on the way out.

Jason had heard about talking to people in hospitals while they were unconscious. He wondered if it was true that they heard what was going on around them.

"You put up one hell of fight it sounds like," Jason said squeezing her hand. "It's like you once told me, we're never out of the fight," Jason smiled. "So I need you to keep fighting okay. Sounds like we're going to be for one hell of a battle for whatever is about to come and you're going to be right there beside us for it. The team and I are ready to go when you are."

As Jason continued to sit beside her bed, he began to find himself ready to close his eyes. He kept holding Mandy's hand and decided to lay his head down on her bed near where he was holding her hand. After all the trauma of the night Jason too needed some rest.

Jason and Mandy both stayed asleep through the night while the team took turns coming in to check on the two. The team knew both needed the rest as they both thought they had the world on their shoulders.

"About time those two got their acts together," Trent said outside Mandy's door as he and Sonny were switching shifts at four in the morning.

"Some things are just meant to work out," Sonny said looking in at the two. He couldn't help but think about Lisa. Despite the change in relationship between Bravo 1 and the CIA agent being relatively new, anyone who had been around them knew they could make it work. Could he and Lisa ever possibly work out as well?

Sonny walked in and sat in the second chair on the other side of the bed. He looked at Mandy. She had taken a beating. There was a slight bruise on her face now forming and her bottom lip looked like it had been busted open. She wasn't a SEAL like them or a solider, but she could put up quite the fight it seemed. He had immense respect for the woman in the hospital bed that always had their backs, got the job done, and managed to tame Bravo 1 in some shape or form.

"Any change?" Lisa whispered as she came into Mandy's room.

"No, she should be waking up soon I reckon," Sonny replied.

"He been here all night," Lisa asked looking at Jason.

"Where else would he be," Sonny said looking at Lisa with a smile. "She's okay, Lisa," Sonny said comforting reaching to squeeze her hand.

"I know," Lisa said smiling back at him. "I'm glad these two seem to have finally come to their senses."

"Yeah," Sonny said looking at Lisa with love and but then looking away quickly. "The finally came to their senses."

Lisa could feel the weight of his words but figured now wasn't the time to address any of that. She wasn't sure where her head was at either at the moment and wasn't sure how to even respond. Lisa said told Sonny she'd see him later and went to check in with Blackburn and see if she could help with anything.

Pain. That's what Mandy could feel in her hazy state of being awake yet not. She groaned and moved a little. She could feel some pain in her left side. She slowly opened her eyes and the room lights felt bright to her. She blinked multiple times to clear up her eyesight. She saw the ceiling and then turned her head to the right. She could see and hear the medical equipment. She could also see Sonny dozing in a chair on this side. Looking down her right arm she could see a bandage dressing on her bicep.

Suddenly everything that had happened the night before came roaring back in her brain. Interrogating Asim al-Hazred, the ambush on base, the fight in the holding cell area, and the betrayal of Reiss. Lisa, Mandy thought in her head. What had happened to her?

Mandy felt one of her hands incased in warmth and looked towards her left side. She looked down to see Jason with his head on her hospital bed asleep. He looked tired and worn out. She could see the worry on his face even has he slept. She slowly took her hand out of his a lifted it to run her fingers through his hair.

Jason slowly started coming out of his sleep. He groaned at the feeling of someone touching his head. As he continued to wake he realized he couldn't feel Mandy's hand in his and his eyes snapped open immediately. He lifted his head only to look up and be met with green eyes looking back at him.

"Hey," Jason said softly getting up from the chair and sitting on Mandy's bed.

"Hey," Mandy hoarsely.

"Here," Jason said getting the jug of water and pouring some into a cup. He put a straw in for her to drink out of. "Easy," Jason said as she drank and coughed to get rid of the itch in her throat.

Sonny woke up suddenly and looked up to see Mandy awake. "Well good morning, Ms. Ellis. Had us worried there for a minute," Sonny said getting up. He decided to give the two a moment. "I'll go get the doctor."

"How are you feeling," Jason asked after Sonny left.

"Fine. Lisa, where's Lisa?" Mandy said in a slight panic.

"Hey, hey, Lisa is okay. Slight concussion but she's fine," Jason reassured her and watched as Mandy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Everyone else?" Mandy asked.

Jason chuckled, "You're the one in a hospital bed and you're asking about everyone else. Everyone is fine. Tired but well. I think they've been taking shifts through the night in your room with us."

"Guess they know then," Mandy said smiling slightly at Jason.

"I don't think it was ever a secret. Pretty sure they had a pool going on the two us. Not sure who won though," Jason joked back.

Mandy shifted to sit up more and groaned at the flare of pain she felt.

"What do you think you're doing? Take it easy," Jason said helping Mandy get situated.

"Getting to work. What happened to Reiss? He was in on it," Mandy said getting to business.

"We have him in custody. What you need to do is rest first. Later, we go over everything that happened," Jason said fluffing one of her pillows up.

"Jason-," Mandy started.

"Nope. Blackburn's orders. I promise you we'll go over everything and we're going to talk about whatever it is you told Davis later. Just please take it easy," Jason said pleading.

Mandy looked at him and caved, "Okay, but 24 hours and we're getting to work. We can't waste any more time."

Jason nodded and then leaned forward to finally kiss Mandy. He put all the feeling he could muster into the kiss and held her neck. When they pulled back he leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

"I'm really glad you're okay," Jason said looking into her eyes.

"Me too," Mandy said reaching to squeeze his hand. "Me too."