Author note:

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please leave a review if you are still interested in this story. I am heading out on vacation so it might be a while before my next update. Thanks for your support!

CH 102-Foolish Pride

Back at home, Clay and Emma tried to fall back into a routine. They had a small Thanksgiving celebration with the Hayes family at Jason's condo. Now came the rush to Christmas. Emma was wrapped up in studying for exams and writing papers, as well as trying to craft a simple holiday show for the kids at the Day Care. Things were getting busy for Clay as well. Intel was picking up massive amounts of chatter, so Bravo was on 24hr stand-by. Emma was on pins and needles waiting for them to get a call.

In the meantime, she hadn't given up on her quest to find some pictures or mementos of Clay's grandparents. As yet, she hadn't heard back from the gentleman she located on Facebook. She kept looking for other contacts, but so far had come up empty.

It was Wednesday, between work and class. She hadn't heard from Clay since he left that morning. It was moving toward dinner time and she wondered if she should fix something for them both or just for herself. She was about to text him when a commotion at the door and Koda's happy yips let her know he was home. Clay stepped inside, put down his bag and bent to give the dog a scratch behind the ears.

"Hi hon. I was wondering if you would make it home for dinner."

"Hey! Yea, I was wondering myself."

He groaned a little as he stood back up and went to embrace Emma. She also noticed him moving slowly.

"What's wrong? Did Dad make you run hills today?"

He chuckled ruefully.

"Nah. I'm just a little sore," he said as he reached to rub at his back. "Must have tweaked something while I was lifting today."

Emma reached around and added her hands to his efforts.

"Where does it hurt?"

"Kinda, kind all over."

"Well, you can go lay down and rest if you want. I'll get you when dinner's ready."

"Em, I hate to make you do all the work. I know you're busy too."

He drew her close and kissed her head. She let him hold her for a minute and rested against his chest.

"It's fine. I would have to fix something for myself anyway."

"If you're sure. I'll do the dishes later then, deal?"

"Deal."

She stretched up on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Then he released her and headed toward the bedroom.

It didn't take her long to pull together a simple dinner. She plated it up and went to get Clay. When she entered the bedroom and softly called for him, he didn't stir. She went over to the bed and bent to kiss his forehead to wake him. As her lips touched his skin, she noticed how warm he felt. Her brow wrinkled with concern; she spoke his name again.

"Clay, Clay…honey. Dinner's ready."

His eyelids fluttered open and he moved to stretch before getting up.

"Ow!"

"What's wrong?"

"Just achy," he answered, still sounding groggy.

"I have dinner on the table."

"Em, I'm sorry. Would you mind if I just rested some more? I…I'm not really very hungry."

His body aches, elevated temperature, lethargy, and lack of appetite started to sound alarm bells in her head.

"That's fine honey. But I think we need to take your temperature. I'm afraid you might be getting sick."

"I'm not sick Em. I told you, I just worked out too hard today and now I'm feeling it. I'll be fine after some rest."

"Okay. But if you're not feeling better by the time I'm home from class, I'm calling Trent."

"Fine."

He rolled over and went back to sleep while Emma ate her dinner. She needed to hurry up, so she wasn't late to class. She ate and sat her dishes in the sink and then put away the leftovers. Checking on Clay once more before she left, she thought he sounded a little congested. But he was sound asleep, so she didn't wake him.

Emma made it to class, just before the door closed. She heard a few whispers inquiring about Troy's whereabouts, and even saw some glances in her direction, but she ignored them. There was not a discussion listed on the syllabus, so she was intrigued by what the professor had planned. Once he arrived, Professor Donaldson informed them that class would be shortened tonight. He would explain their final project and dismiss them. That suited Emma fine. She could escape the conjecture about Troy and get home to check on Clay.

The professor explained that the final project, for a third of their grade, would be an essay on the subject of their choice. They could reference readings he assigned but must also include research of their own. As long as they had their papers turned in before the winter break, they didn't need to return to class.

Emma's head was spinning as she packed up her things. She wasn't sure what topic she wanted to tackle. She knew that she wanted to get Clay's opinion before settling on her area of focus. Once in her car, she texted Clay to let him know that she would be home early. Even by the time she reached their apartment, there was no response.

Figuring that he would be up and about, Emma didn't try to be quiet as she got home. She looked around and realized that Clay wasn't in the living room. She called out for him. All she heard was a muffled groan in reply. She went into the bedroom and found him in the same position as when she left. He was barely awake, and his breathing sounded heavier. Emma started to sit down on the mattress next to him when he bolted straight up, swung feet over onto the floor and ran for the bathroom. From behind the door she could hear him losing whatever was in his stomach. When he was finished, he rinsed out his mouth and shuffled back into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed. There was no use in denying it now. He was sick.

Emma sat down next to him and smoothed his hair back off his forehead. He still felt hot to her. She retrieved the thermometer and passed it over his brow.

"What's it say," he croaked out.

"You have a fever of 101."

"Shit!"

"I'm calling Trent."

"You don't need to do that. He'll just tell me to take some Advil, drink liquids and rest. I can do all of that."

"Why don't you want me to call?"

"'Cause he'll bench me. If the team gets spun up, I'll have to stay behind."

"I think that would be best, don't you?"

He sat up and ran a hand through his hair.

"I can't…just sit on my ass for a little cold if the team gets called in."

"You wouldn't be just sitting on your ass. And this is more than a cold, Clay."

Both of them were getting exasperated with each other. She tried to soothe him, but he shrugged off her hand.

"Fine, I won't call tonight. Let's get you some fluids and some Advil. You can go back to sleep and we'll see where we are in the morning."

Emma got him some water, a couple of gel-caps, and then went to take Koda on a walk. Clay was asleep again when she returned and slipped into bed beside him.

Twice more during the night, Clay was sick to his stomach. Emma tried to keep him hydrated, but he was having a hard time keeping anything down. Before he could complain, she texted Trent.

The team medic instructed her to get some Pedialyte and work on getting Clay to keep fluids down. Then they could concentrate on some nourishment. Fortunately, his temperature hadn't spiked so Trent wasn't too concerned about not getting any Advil into him. She ran to the store to get what was prescribed.

She was hardly in the door when Clay called to her. She could hear the annoyance in his tone.

"You talked to Trent without telling me?"

"How did you…"

Clay held up his phone to display a text message from Bravo 4.

"No, I told you that I was going to contact him once we knew how you were feeling. I think last night made that pretty clear."

"I don't…I don't need you to call in for me. I can take care of myself."

His was raising his voice and waving his hands around to make his point. Emma did her best to stay calm and not react.

"You obviously need someone to take care of you because you're not thinking clearly right now."

"Don't treat me like a child."

"Then stop acting like one. You're sick. As much as you want to think that you can ignore this and push through, you can't."

She held up his phone.

"Are you going to call Dad, or am I?"

He just gave her a hard look.

"Em…you don't get it…"

"I do. I do get it," she interrupted. "You feel an obligation to the team to be there with them. To roll out with your brothers and to have their backs. But you also have a responsibility to be at 100% when you're out there. Going in sick puts you and everyone else in danger."

"There's always danger," he interrupted.

"Exactly. There's enough of a risk already. You don't need to add to it by not being at your best."

She paused for a second before continuing.

"And, you have another obligation too."

He looked at her quizzically.

"You promised me to always do your best to come home safe to me. Spinning up in this condition would be breaking that promise. And I…I need you to come home to me Clay."

A single tear fell and traced down her cheek. The sight of her finally broke through his ego and pride. Taking a deep breath, he reached for his phone to call Jason. Emma left him to have the conversation in private.

When he was finished with his call, he wrapped himself in a blanket and went out into the living room. Emma was curled up in a tight ball in the chair. Even as weak as he was, he lifted her easily and settled down with her in his lap.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, Babe."

She sniffed and nodded against his shoulder.

"I mean it. I just… standing myself down is…"

"I know it's hard," she answered quietly.

"Yea, it is. But Jason agreed that I should stay home until I can shake this. Actually, he said he was surprised that I made the call, even if it is the right one," he said laughing softly. "Then, when I told him that it was you kicking my ass that got me to call…he said that didn't surprise him in the least."

They both laughed and he kissed her on the head.

"Okay. You get back to bed. I'll bring you something to drink."

"Don't you have class today," he asked, suddenly realizing the time.

"Yea, it's fine. I'll get the notes. Making sure you're okay is more important."

Clay smiled, shook his head, and then spoke almost as if to himself as he went back to bed.

"So damn lucky."

It took a couple days, and Emma keeping him on complete bedrest, but he was finally feeling better. It turned out that the team did catch a spin. By the time the weekend came, and Bravo was back, Emma was finally allowing him back on solid food and letting him take Koda for walks to get some strength back.

He was lounging on the couch while Emma worked on her final paper for her Geo-Politics class, when there was a knock on the door. Clay opened it to find Sonny on the other side.

"Hey man. C'mon in."

Emma rose from her place at the table and gave their friend a hug.

"It's good to see you."

"Sorry to stop by without callin' first. I wanted to check up on this guy here."

"It's no problem. Can I get you a drink?"

"That'd be nice, Sunshine."

Emma went and got Sonny a beer and grabbed Clay a can of ginger ale. He gave her a look as she handed it to him.

"Sorry, no alcohol yet."

She placed a kiss on his forehead by way of apology.

"I think I'm going to go in the other room to study," she announced, sensing that Sonny wanted to talk over the mission with Clay.

When the two men were alone Sonny took a drink and then nodded toward the can Clay held.

"Whew, she's a tough cookie, isn't she?"

"Yea, yea, she's tough."

"She'd have to be to put up with yer sorry ass."

"You're not wrong on that one."

Clay couldn't wait any longer and asked Sonny the details of the Op. It sounded like a rough one, very physical. As Sonny went through the particulars, Clay realized how impossible it would have been for him to manage all of it feeling like he had. Emma was right. He would have slowed them down and cost them the capture of the HVT for sure, and maybe even gotten himself or one of his brothers injured in the process.

"Sounds like you guys got through it okay."

"Yea, we did, we did. We made do with what we had."

"Awww, did you miss me Sonny?"

"Now don't go gettin' all mushy on me. Peter Pan."

Clay laughed at his best friend.

"Seriously, it'll be good to have you back."

"Thanks man."

The two made plans to meet at the gym next week. Clay needed to get all his strength back. After a few more minutes of conversation Sonny drained the rest of his beer and then headed out. Clay went to the bedroom to let Emma know that Sonny had left.

"Hey, Babe. Thanks for giving me some time with Sonny."

"Sure. I knew you would want to know everything about the mission. And you guys can't talk freely if I'm around. So, did it go okay?"

"Yea, apparently is was fine."

She noticed his hesitation.

"Something wrong?"

"No. I... it's just that you were right, Em. I could never have been on that Op. Not with the way I felt. Thank you. Thanks for begin tough on me and fighting my pride."

Emma smiled back at him, unsure how to respond.

"You take such good care of me and I don't deserve you."

"I love you, Clay."

"I love you too."

"Did Sonny have anything else to say?"

"Not really. We are meeting at the gym on Monday. I've got to work on getting my strength and stamina back."

Emma got up from her chair and backed him up until he sat down on the mattress. Then she pushed his chest playfully and started to crawl over top of him.

"Well, I don't know about the strength part, but I think I can help with your stamina."

Clay responded with a low groan and pulled her down on top of him.