"We don't have much to do today Jess, you'll be in and out fairly quick" Doctor Shah told Jess as she was sitting in the base infirmary waiting for a check up, she was 3 weeks out of hospital, Bravo had been home just over 2 weeks, they were now on the mandatory 3 months of block leave that all teams took coming back from deployment

"Sounds good to me, ow" Jess said flinching in pain as Doctor Shah accessed her port and began to draw the blood, she'd become quite tender over the area due to repeated use and Luca had taken the IV line out earlier that day so he could change it for a fresh one tonight, Jess made a mental note to use the cream before all appointments when she had no line in just in case they needed to draw blood

"Sorry, we need blood, how have you been feeling in general" Doctor Shah asked her apologising for the pain, Jess was use to Doctor Shah drawing blood using the port, Jess just hadn't been expecting it this time

"Tired mostly, cold and sore, I've been taking my antiemetic daily, sleeping anywhere between 16-18 hours a day, Luca's been helping exercise my joints and giving me plenty of massages" Jess said informing the doctor of what had been going on

"You keeping food down" Doctor Shah asked

"Yes, and we're running the fluids with the chemotherapy treatment as well for hydration" Jess responded

"Hop on the scales for me" Doctor Shah asked indicating to her scales on the floor

"What's the verdict" Jess asked to afraid to look, she hated seeing the numbers so low

"You've gained 11 pounds in the 3 weeks since you were discharged, keep it up and you'll regain your lost weight in no time" Doctor Shah said with a smile as she recorded the number

"It's all Alie's home cooking" Jess said stepping off and sitting on the spare seat next to Doctor Shah's desk

"You're doing something right whatever it is, now you were 165 pounds before you deployed" Doctor Shah said pulling up the numbers to compare

"That's right, heaviest I've ever been" Jess said

"And the healthiest, don't forget that" Doctor Shah said warning her

"Didn't say it was a bad thing did I" Jess said, she enjoyed having the extra weight on her, people had made fun of her growing up because of it, she could eat like anything but nothing had helped

"No, in fact I remember how hard you worked trying to gain the extra weight, it wasn't till after you got injured in Djibouti you succeeded" Doctor Shah said as she pointed at Jess's button

"It wasn't easy" Jess said as she subconsciously rubbed her hand over the device, it had allowed her to consume the extra calories her body needed in a form so she wasn't sick from them, because it was already broken down all she had to do was absorb it, when Chelsea had broken down the intake required for her, Jess had been shocked to learn that some days when she was doing heavy training her body needed upwards of 8000 calories, it had been no wonder she struggled for so long with her weight and couldn't gain it

"You still having your sessions with Joanna" Doctor Shah asked mentioning the psychologist Jess had started seeing after she had been injured, Eric had stuck to his promise and found one of base who specialised in Jess's particular kind of trauma along with eating disorders and body issues and was a former elite level gymnast, most of her patients were younger than Jess, but when Eric informed her of Jess's case history she was more than happy to take Jess on as a patient

"Haven't missed one yet" Jess said, she usually saw Joanna once or twice a week doing both individual sessions and fami,y sessions with Luca, her dad and Alie and even Zah participated in a few

"Wish my other military patients were so compliant with seeing a psychologist, have you spoken about what you will do if you can't deploy again" Doctor Shah asked curiously

"We haven't mentioned anything about coming back actually, we've been focusing on other stuff, getting remission, our little family, we know the LFS diagnosis means this will unlikely be my only battle with cancer throughout my life, it will most likely be back" Jess said to the doctor, on paper the only reason she was even considered for coming back last time was because her skills were not easily replaced in the teams, that was the reason she avoided appearing before the MEB, Trent had already briefed her on what they would be looking at first time around, for a chronic medical condition that wouldn't have changed, she needed to be compliant with treatment, not allow her condition to affect how the team runs, and show that her continued participation would not cause any long term complications to her overall health because of the participation, last one was legal more than anything, they didn't want anyone to come back at them later trying to sue for whatever complications had since occoured due to the Navy's actions being negligent in their duty of care

"That's why it's important for you to maintain regular monitoring, has Doctor Leighton discussed that with you yet" Doctor Shah asked

"She mentioned some things like using MRI were possible to do diagnostic tests as there's no radiation involved, Luca and I have also discussed the option for a preventative mastectomy in the future once I've recovered to eliminate the possibility of cancer developing in my breasts which is a high risk area with LFS" Jess said, truthfully she probably wouldn't have come this far if he hadn't been there supporting her, part of her had expected him to leave weeks ago, she really freaked out when she saw the scar from the vulvectomy, she claimed she was nothing more than an it, that she'd lost everything that made her female in the surgery, but even amongst the tears, he'd been the one who calmed her down, talked with her, explained that those things she'd lost weren't what made him fall in love with her in the beginning anyway, and it certainly didn't change the way he felt about her now, it hadn't taken her smile, it hadn't taken her belief in justice and right from wrong, it hadn't taken her sense of humour and it hadn't taken her patience in dealing with his quirks and supporting his dreams when some girls would find them annoying or complain he was to controlling, not many 20 year olds would agree to their fiance taking in a child that wasn't biologically his and agreeing to raise it together as a family, yet Jess had done just that when it came to the decision to adopt Zalie, she still had everything that was important to Luca and Zah and everyone else who cared about her, the other stuff didn't matter

"That's good to hear you're being open with him, there would be a lot of couples who would struggle, now I need to check you're scar down there" Doctor Shah said pleased with her progress, a lot of operators bottled up their emotions so they didn't appear weak, they had developed this belief that emotions make you vulnerable and that other people wouldn't want to be around you if they knew what you were going through. Maybe it was the fact Luca had been in a similar line of work, or that Jess had already experienced what it feels like when a loved one shuts you out when they're hurting from when Luca nearly ended up confined to a chair, she seemed to understand the importance of having him there with her and how important it was to be open with him with what she was feeling if their relationship was going to survive

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"Eric" Captain Lindell said knocking on Eric's office door, Eric was taking his leave as a chance to get caught up and even get ahead on his paperwork, reviewing training plans for Bravo's next rotation, help review training programs for the Australian Clearance divers, they had really cleared house and were starting from the ground up as they wanted to regain the glory days from when the US military actually considered a bubble head to be someone worthy of respect like they were in Vietnam, but it wouldn't happen until they could be trusted to have their backs when it got down to it, so what better way than having a DEVGRU team Commander help advise from the beginning, and seeing as Eric was at ground zero in Djibouti which caused the whole change to occur, who better to act as advisor

"Sir" Eric asked lifting his head from the report he was reading

"Gate security reports that Turner is on base, was wondering if you knew where as she's not answering her phone" Lindell asked, the look on his face told Eric this was an urgent matter, despite Jess being on the inactive medical list Lindell needed her for something

"I believe Trent mentioned she had an appointment with Doctor Shah for a check up" Eric said trying to think where Jess would be

"Find her and bring her to ops, team Echo are in the field and need her expertise urgently" Lindell said before turning and leaving Eric's office

"Yes sir" Eric said even though he doubted Lindell was paying attention to him, whatever was going on in ops obviously had Lindell's full attention, Eric quickly pulled out his phone and made a call to Trent to find out where Jess was, he knew Bravo were on base, they'd done a training session that morning Eric had supervised himself and were due for weapons maintenance and cage inventory as it could take time to get some requisitions signed of on by supply and would involve some negotiations as their were budgets that had to be stuck to, he wanted it all done before they stepped on that plane so he could take a proper vacation and relax with his team, something he rarely got a chance to do, even his trip to Australia he had to report back on Jay's new equipment and the benefits it would have for the military to purchase it, Italy would not require him to write any reports, or have anything remotely resembling military duties to perform and he was going to enjoy every second of it

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"You wanted me sir" Trent said curious as to why their CO had requested to meet him at the base infirmary

"Yes Trent, Lindell needs Jess to consult on a mission Echo are currently undertaking, I want you to stick close by in case she has an emergency and make sure she gets home once she's finished" Eric said, Jess was not in any condition to be stuck in ops as she wasn't strong enough yet and ops technicians were not trained in clearing her trache tube if it got blocked, how too do CPR on someone with a trache tube, or checking her blood sugars if they dropped low, all they could do is call medical and then risk Doctor Shah tearing them a new one because Jess wasn't cleared to be on duty. Trent on the other hand had spent the last two weeks learning from Luca how to handle emergency situations if they arise, if he was sitting in ops with her Doctor Shah should be happy

"I'll message Luca, get him to drop off what she needs for the afternoon, we're all supposed to be going to Williamsburg this afternoon to cheer Laura on in some competition she's competing in later tonight, Brock won't shut up about it, apparently the level of noise reaction from the crowd plays a part in the final score so he's trying to rally as many of us as possible to go and cheer her on, there's supposedly a big cheque for the winner" Trent said

"He's serious about her isn't he" Eric asked curiously, Brock had always been shy around girls, yet he'd developed a real connection to the young vet and was always seeming to be organising a group to help with something involving her

"Yes sir he is, ever since that night in Libya, the birthday present I think sealed it however" Trent said as they walked into the infirmary

"Bethany, has Doctor Shah finished with Jess" Eric asked greeting the nurse behind the desk

"She's just getting dressed from her examination, Doctor Shah asked you to go back to her office" Bethany said indicating her way to the office

"Lieutenant Commander Blackburn, you can come in" Doctor Shah said just as Eric and Trent reached her office door

"Doctor Shah, you wanted to speak to me" Eric said greeting the doctor as he and Trent walked in, Jess wasn't in the room, Eric assumed she was probably in an examination room getting dressed

"Petty Officer Turner, her body is still weak and needs regular rest, I don't want to see her" Doctor Shah started to say before Eric cut her off, he'd already predicted the speech she would be giving him

"She won't be in the ops centre one second longer than we need her, and Trent will be right there monitoring her condition and escort her home when she's finished" Eric said motioning to Trent, Doctor Shah could be content with the fact Trent wouldn't allow Jess or anyone else take advantage of her when she's not up to it

"You're fully familiar with how everything works, her trache tube" Doctor Shah asked

"Luca has taken me through everything thoroughly, how to clear the tube, do CPR, check her blood sugars, drain the indiana pouch" Trent said giving the doctor the run through of what he'd learned

"That being said, I still don't want her making regular appearances yet when she needs to be resting at home, her recovery is progressing well and despite the stress of the chemotherapy on her body, she's already slowly regaining the weight she lost from the surgery and radiation which is huge, I don't want anything jeprodising her progress" Doctor Shah said giving a final caution to Eric

"I understand" Eric said as he stood up ready to leave as soon as Jess was ready

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"Ah Petty Officer Turner, good you're here, Echo need your expertise, are you aware of a gentleman called Jusuf Hasanbegovic" Captain Lindell asked as soon as he saw her enter the ops centre, he was slightly surprised to see Trent there but figured it was probably a condition of Doctor Shah's to allow Jess to be there and he would probably get chewed out by his superiors if he ordered the medic to leave as Doctor Shah could file a complaint against him for bringing in an operator who was not fit to be in ops, so with that reasoning Trent could stay

"Bosnian national, orphaned at the age of 14 due to the war, was offered a scholarship at Leeds university where he studied bio chemistry and physics, he then moved to Moscow to get his Phd. He can build you anything for the right price, goes by the code name Green Fox in the field, his work starts at $250000 for a basic explosive device, you want something dirty however starting price is 2 million for a single device" Jess said reeling the information of the top of her head, and she didn't need some report from the CIA to do it either, that knowledge was a big part of the reason Lindell wanted her in the first place

"Can you identify his work by sight" Lindell asked curiously

"Yes sir" Jess responded

"Provide instructions on how to disarm it" Lindell asked, there were thousands of bomb makers in the world, and even Jess had stated their were some devices she would rather clear the area and detonate over disarming due to safety reasons, Lindell had infact been caught in a situation where EOD's had recommended detonation due to the complexity of a device, Jess had been the only one who agreed to disarming it as being an option, it had saved his life

"Yes, but it will take time and will depend on whether the device is dirty or not" Jess said

"Then I suggest you get to work" Lindell said pointing to a monitor as the technician vacated the seat and handed Jess the comm set

"How is she going Trent" Eric asked, it had been nearly 3 hours since Jess started

"She's tired sir, I don't want her going to much longer and by my calculations she'll need to cath soon" Trent said looking at his watch

"The device" Eric asked hopeful that Jess had finished with it

"She's still working on it, said it was a King's Jubilee device, which I'm presuming is a code name" Trent said confused, he often thought that Jess needed subtitles when she got talking about explosive devices, the only one around DEVGRU that seemed to understand her at times was Full Metal

"Most likely, Rick Duncan could probably tell me, I'm guessing most of her code names are from when she was a clearance diver, or more likely from Jay's generation of clearance divers" Eric said looking at Trent to get his opinion

"Most likely, wouldn't hurt to find out if he knows the device, or check with Metal, he spent enough time around Jay and the bubble heads, he seems to be able to understand Jess when she's talking about this stuff, he may be able to take over" Trent said to the CO

"I'll look into it make some calls, stick to her" Eric said pointing to where Jess was sitting

"Yes sir" Trent said as he turned his focus back to Jess