A/N — yes, this is ridiculous. I must have fallen and cracked my head because I can't stop writing this. xoxo — tmtcltb

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Five Times Danny and Sasha Didn't Know Someone Was Watching, and One Time They Did.

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One

Frankie Benz pulled into the parking structure of his apartment building in a rental car, cursing his shitty luck. First, someone backed into him at the bank while he was inside this morning, taking off without a note and forcing Frankie to spend the next two hours dealing with the local police. Then, both of his potential dates for this evening bailed on him after he accidentally sent them the same invite, in a group text. But even worse, none of the guys were available to go bar-hopping, leaving Frankie with nothing to do but go home at twenty-one hundred on a Friday night.

Heading in the direction of his usual spot, Frankie was further infuriated to realize that someone else had parked there. He was considering causing a scene when he spotted his roommate's truck two spaces down, his mood lifting. Danny could generally be counted on to swing by the Castaway for some drinks, even if he was generally Frankie's last choice for a wingman, weirdly picky about things like making sure the girls were actually twenty-one. Sensing that his night was looking up, Frankie parked in the first available spot — the one assigned to the asshole in Apartment 3D — and opened his door, only to stop cold at the sight before him.

Danny Green pressing Sasha Zaslasky against the hood of the unidentified car that was taking up Frankie's spot, his hands on her waist and her arms around his neck. The sound of laughter, his and hers, floated across the parking lot. Then Danny leaned down, their lips meeting. This was no tentative first kiss either. No, this was a take-me-upstairs-and-fuck-me-now kind of kiss. Which, a minute later, Danny appeared to being doing. Stepping back, tugging Sasha towards the stairs, where the two of them quickly disappeared.

Dazed, Frankie dropped back into the seat of the POS rental, trying to comprehend what he had just seen. Green and Zaslasky? Not that Sasha wasn't hot. The woman sizzled — when she wasn't tearing them a new asshole, anyway. Maybe that was Danny's deal. He spent so much time giving orders that he got turned on by someone else being in charge. An image of Sasha in tight, black leather popped into Frankie's head — a pleasant vision that was immediately destroyed by the follow up which involved Green and a ball gag, and made Frankie want to bleach his brain.

Putting the car back into gear, Frankie backed up. Danny had seemed more relaxed recently, less fixated on exhausting the team running drill after drill and closer to the even-keeled guy Frankie first met. If that was the result of whatever-the-hell Green was doing with Zaslasky, well, Frankie didn't plan to get in the way.

Two

Mariah Henderson walked around the concession stand and towards the small track building where Danny Green was waiting, excited to see the young man who she had watched mature from a fourth grader who threw spitballs at Audrey Hollingsworth to a young man serving his country faithfully. Mariah loved all of her students but in her heart of hearts, she knew that there were a few kids who were just special. And Daniel Joshua Green was at the top of that list. Mariah was almost to the shed when she heard Danny speak.

"I should have cancelled. I'm not the right person to do this."

Mariah halted, taken aback by the bleak note in his voice, one that she had never heard from the confident young man before. Then another voice answered, presumably the young woman who arrived with Danny. What was her name again? "You are exactly the right person to do this, Green."

"They look at me and they see a hero. You saw the questions they submitted in advance. They wanted to know what kind of gun I carry and how many countries I've visited." There was a bitter chuckle. "Do you think the twenty-two hours spent creeping up on that camp, covered in my own piss, counts as visiting Pakistan? Should I tell them what Ward looked like after that IED hit his convoy?"

Tears sprung to Mariah's eyes, and a hand raised to her mouth. She took a step forward, mind whirling as she tried to come up with a reason to cancel this program at the last minute. Then the woman spoke again. "That's why you need to be here, Danny. Because you're right. Those kids? They have no clue what it's like in the field. But you, you do. And no, you can't tell them about Eddie or about Abbottabad. But you can remind them that this assembly is about those who died. And that those people buried at Arlington aren't just a number or a name. They were real people. Men you knew. Guys just like you."

There was no sound from the other side of the shed, and Mariah held her breath, waiting. Then Danny let out a snort. "Do they teach you that shit at Dam Neck?"

"Informant recruitment 101," came the reply. "Followed by informant recruitment 102, sexual favors that will have them begging to tell you their deepest, darkest secrets. I'd give you a demonstration but I'm fairly certain there are laws about appropriate schoolground behavior."

"You mean that you aren't going to play prom queen and let me screw you under the bleachers?" Danny queried, his wry tone one that Mariah remembered well from prior visits to speak at the high school's Memorial Day program.

The response was dry. "I do have standards, Green."

Danny laughed, and Mariah relaxed, taking a step back. Thankful that Danny had such a supportive girlfriend. She would give them another few minutes before collecting Danny for the program. In the meantime, she would track down something for that lovely young lady to eat.

Hopefully she liked fruit cake.

Three

Tavi Silver paused to study the single picture that hung on the wall. It was one of Sasha and her father, Ira, at Sasha's graduation from the Naval Academy. Tavi dabbed at a tear, blowing her nose. Ira had been so proud of his daughter, updating Tavi whenever they ran into each other at the grocery store. Those updates left Tavi feeling like she knew what was happening in Sasha's life, but the reality was that she had barely spoken to her childhood best friend in years. Not since Tavi married her college sweetheart and had her first child, and Sasha moved first to Virginia and then DC. Oh, sure, there were the cocktails with their old crowd around the holidays and an occasional postcard from some exotic location. But sometime along the way, Tavi had lost contact with Sasha. She hadn't realized quite how much, perhaps, until she went to call her friend and offer her condolences, and realized that the last time she and Sasha talked was almost two years ago. Their exchanges having been reduced to a series of one-line texts.

Tavi straightened, moving determinedly towards the door to Sasha's bedroom — a place she used to know as well as her own. Ira's passing was a shock, but maybe this was the wake-up call that Tavi needed to reconnect with Sasha before the friendship completely disappeared. Tavi was lifting her hand to knock when Sasha spoke. "Who are you texting?"

"My mother," replied a deep male voice. Tavi had seen a number of attractive men loitering around the house — Sasha's "team" apparently, leaving Tavi trying to remember what exactly it was that Sasha did for the Navy that involved having a team of extremely fit, extremely deadly looking men at her beck and call — but Tavi wasn't sure which one was talking.

"Why?" Sasha demanded, her impatient tone exactly the same as Tavi remembered.

"Because Berchem wants more of those black and white cookies and there's a good place by the ferry..." the voice began, only to be cut off.

"Danny," Sasha snapped. "Why is your mother on the ferry?"

Danny — Tavi recalled him as a tall blonde, cute but bit of a meathead, and definitely not Sasha's type — laughed. "Did you really just ask why my mother, a woman who once drove thirty-six hours straight to attend Benz's promotion ceremony when I wasn't even there and has attended all three of Berchem's weddings so far despite acknowledging in writing that any of them was likely to last more than six months, would miss something as critical as your father's funeral? Besides, she said she had nothing else to do today. She gets bored, you know."

"Let me get this straight," Sasha replied, tone clipped. "Your mother, who has eight children and ten grandchildren..."

"Eleven," Danny corrected. "And she's been at the hospital for the birth of all of them. A point of pride, apparently."

"Eleven grandchildren," Sasha continued. "Is bored and therefore decided to come to the funeral of my father, a man she has never met."

"Yes. Oh, and she's bringing Izzy," Danny responded.

"Oh, yes, bringing your niece makes it all so much more normal," Sasha replied, but Sasha sounded more resigned than irritated.

"Consider it part of Mom's keeping herself out of hell campaign," Danny said, before adding. "You were cute in high school. I thought only Catholic girls wore those uniforms."

"Put those away," Sasha groaned.

"You know, you seem stressed. I would offer to fuck you but..."

"We're not having sex at my father's funeral," Sasha hissed, and Tavi barely stopped herself from laughing. This Danny might not be Sasha's usual type, but it was clear the two of them had something going on. For the first time, Tavi felt a bit guilty for eavesdropping on what Sasha must have assumed was a private conversation. Although how her friend could have forgotten that the walls of this house were paper thin was beyond Tavi's comprehension.

"Hence the would in my prior sentence," Danny replied, and Tavi thought that she heard a page flip, surmising that Danny was looking at yearbooks.

Sasha sighed — loudly. "If you really want to help you could return the vodka that you confiscated."

"Tisk, tisk, you know the rules," Danny chided. "If I get called to pick your drunk ass up because you got kicked out of a bar, you're teetotaling for the next month. Can't change the rules for you without changing them for everyone."

"First of all, tisk tisk is a ridiculous thing to say. Second of all, it was once and, unlike Berchem getting kicked out of Exotic Desires, I..." Sasha's voice trailed off. A moment later she spoke again, her voice cracking. "He left me a letter. It was in my desk drawer. It wasn't here the last time that I was home. I wonder if he knew..."

"Hey. It's okay." The humorous note in Danny's voice was gone, his tone dropping so Tavi could no longer understand what he was saying. She didn't need to. She knew only too well the sound of muffled tears and whispered words of comfort. Tavi backed away from the doorway. She would reconnect with Sasha. But right now, she wasn't the person who her friend needed.

Four

Isabella Patricia Green loved being part of a big extended family. As an only child, people frequently assumed that she spent lots of time alone, but that couldn't be more wrong. In fact, there were times when Izzy wondered if the house where she lived with her mom and grandma was ever empty. The family homestead, as Grams referred to it, was still treated by all of Izzy's aunts and uncles as their own house. Meaning that it wasn't unusual to walk into the house to find ten members of the Green family eating pizza in the kitchen for no reason other than it being Tuesday. There were other benefits to a big family as well. With three of her eight children living out of state and Grams having a firm policy of never going more than six months without seeing each of her children in person, at the age of fifteen, Izzy had already traveled to forty states and sixteen countries.

No, Izzy loved her big family. But if she had to pick something to change, she probably would have made Uncle Danny less hot. Not that she thought he was hot. That would, obviously, be gross. But all of Izzy's friends, including her BFF Lucia, thought that he was. And, really, it was just too embarrassing watching them fall all over themselves trying to impress Uncle Danny when Uncle Danny barely seemed to notice them. Which is the reason why, when Lucia called earlier, Izzy didn't mention that Uncle Danny was in town for the weekend or that he brought Sasha. Because Uncle Danny might be fun, but Sasha was totally awesome and there was no way that Izzy was going to waste time listening to Lucia go on and on about how cute Uncle Danny was when she could be convincing Sasha to show her some more hand-to-hand takedowns. Once Izzy managed to take out Uncle Danny using one of Sasha's moves, and she was pretty sure that he wasn't even faking the way he did when she was younger.

"Honey, can you tell Danny and Sasha that dinner's ready?" Grams asked, head popping out from the kitchen.

Izzy hopped down from the window seat. "Sure."

Slipping on her windbreaker and boots, Izzy headed out towards the barn. She thought she recalled Uncle Danny saying something about Sasha not believing that duck eggs were green and wanting to see it for herself. Izzy smiled, remembering how Uncle Danny had her convinced that the green eggs were dinosaur eggs until she was like eight. She rounded the corner of the barn, expecting to find them at the chicken coop turned duck sanctuary but all she could see were ducks. Izzy ducked into the barn, climbing to the loft to get a better view, and immediately spotted them down by the flower beds. Not that there was much to see this late in the season, just a couple of dried out mums and the scarecrow. As Izzy watched, Uncle Danny picked a bunch of the crumbling mums, tucking them behind Sasha's ear. Sasha smiled, then leaned up, fingers curling around his neck as she kissed him.

Izzy froze, staring. Had she just seen what she thought that she saw? Sasha kissing Uncle Danny? And not a thank you kiss or the cheek kisses like they did in Europe but a real kiss. Izzy's mind spun. Sasha had been coming to visit them for years, ever since her own father died. Grams always went out of her way to make sure that Sasha felt welcome, going so far as to go visit Rabbi Micah to get a list of Jewish holidays and calling Sasha on each one until Uncle Danny told her to stop and Grams switched to texts instead. But Izzy had never, ever seen anything to suggest that Sasha and Uncle Danny were into each other like that.

Uncle Danny reached out, taking Sasha's hand as they walked towards the treeline and disappeared into the woods.

A minute passed, and then another, before Izzy turned and walked back towards the house. She couldn't tell anyone what she saw. There just weren't secrets in the Green family and with so many of them, someone was bound to tell Lucia and Izzy just could not deal with Lucia sulking right now. Not when soccer season was just starting and...Izzy gasped as realization struck. She knew something that nobody else in the family knew.

Score.

Five

Darien Chandler walked towards the Pentagon holding the briefcase that Tom forgot when he caught the train this morning. He probably didn't need the briefcase but, with the kids in school and no appointments, Darien decided that a day in DC might be enjoyable. Reaching the entrance, Darien texted Tom that she was here and hit send, anticipating that it would take Tom about ten minutes to make his way through the tangled halls of the Pentagon to the entrance.

While she waited, Darien noticed a man approaching, unable to shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere. He looked a little rough around the edges, hair slightly too long, skin rough from the wind, and deep shadow under his eyes suggesting that he hadn't gotten much sleep, the tell-tale signs of a man just home from deployment. Maybe that's why he looked so familiar — his expression one that Darien had seen too many times on her husband's face.

There was a rush at the entrance and several people stepped out of the way to allow a slender brunette to pass, her eyes immediately fixing on the familiar-looking man. "Danny!"

Darien recognized the woman, of course, and that's when it clicked. Sasha Zaslasky and Danny Green. Darien took a step back, not wanting them to notice her. A fear that she quickly realized was absurd when Sasha threw herself into Danny's arms. Neither one of them paying attention to the people around them. Danny lifting Sasha, spinning her around and around, both of them laughing.

"You weren't supposed to be back until next week," Sasha was saying as Danny lowered her back to the ground. Sasha's hands stayed on his chest, as though she couldn't bring herself to let go — an emotion that Darien knew well. Darien felt tears threaten as she recalled Tom's surprise appearance after Sam's birth. She had been so incredibly overwhelmed, so scared by their son's unexpectedly early arrival and stressed by the decisions that she needed to make without his input. When Tom walked through that door, all she could do was cry. Later Tom confessed that he thought Sam must have taken a turn for the worst. Even after Darien explained that it was simply the relief of seeing him, Tom didn't seem to understand. But then Tom had always been the one to leave, never the one left behind. He had never experienced the strain of spending weeks and months wondering whether the last goodbye was the last ever. Thank god Tom had taken the job at the Pentagon. Although the position still entailed some travel, they no longer went weeks or months without talking and Tom now spent most nights in their bed, lying next to her, snoring.

"You want me to leave and come back then?" Danny asked, drawing a chuckle from the crowd. Danny looked up then, seeming to notice the audience for the first time, and Darien was glad that she wasn't in his line of sight. He leaned down and whispered something in Sasha's ear. She nodded and then the two began moving in the direction of the parking lot.

Darien watched them leave, eyes lingering on Sasha. Darien had never been entirely comfortable around the younger woman. Darien liked to think that she knew her husband well, and she never suspected that Tom was unfaithful to her with Sasha, or anyone, but there had always been something between Tom and Sasha. A flare that surfaced every time that they were together, even if they were discussing something as innocuous as the World Series or Sam and Ashley. Now, though, watching the way that Sasha clung to Danny's arm, her head against his shoulder, Darien felt only empathy. The instant bond that formed between women who watched the men they loved leave over and over again, never knowing if this time would be the last.

"Hey honey, thanks for bringing my briefcase," Tom said from behind her. Darien jumped, so caught up in her thoughts that she had almost forgotten why she was there. She turned, leaning up to give Tom a kiss. He smiled, blue eyes sparkling. "Do you have time to get coffee before you go shopping?"

Darien smiled back. "I'd love to."

Six

Danny tugged at his collar, wondering if Frankie switched his shirt for a smaller size the way he did when Berchem got married the second and third times. He took another glance at the clock, watching the hand click from 10:04 to 10:05. Loosening his tie, Danny undid his top button as he walked towards the window that overlooked the parking lot. He was halfway there when the door behind him swung open.

"If I didn't know better, Green, I would say that you seem nervous."

Relief coursing through him, Danny turned at the sultry voice, snide remark about the time on the tip of his tongue, when he caught his first glimpse of Sasha. He stopped, taking in every inch of the white long-sleeved gown that she was wearing, one with a side-slit above the knee. Sasha's hair was loose, curls rolling down her back, and she was wearing the dangling gold earrings that he brought back from his last deployment. "Wow."

Sasha laughed, sauntering forward in heels that looked far too tall to actually walk in, her hands moving to the back of Danny's neck, checking his shirt tag before fixing his collar and tie. "I brought another shirt in case Benz pulled his usual stunt but apparently he's matured a little."

"More likely he's terrified of what you would do in return," Danny answered. He reached out, catching her hand, raising it to his lips. "And you look beautiful. But I think there's some rule about not seeing you until the ceremony starts."

"Good thing we've never been conventional," Sasha replied, arching an eyebrow. "Sorry I was late. I snapped a heel and had to go back for new shoes."

Taking in the way her legs looked in the sky-high heels, already imagining creative ways to take advantage of the thigh-high slit in her dress, Danny gave Sasha a slow smile. "I know just how you can make it up to me."

Rolling her eyes, Sasha looped an arm through his. "Ready to get this show on the road?"

"How did you escape my mother anyway? Aren't you supposed to walk up the aisle alone so all the guys can oogle you?" Danny asked.

Sasha had graciously agreed to her future mother-in-law's request that they get married in the same church where Danny's parents and all seven of his siblings got married, with the local Pastor and Rabbi performing the ceremony jointly. Sasha dropped her voice. "Berchem took off his yakama. Patricia ran off to fix it."

Chuckling, Danny allowed himself to be pulled towards the double doors that led to the chapel. Tavi and Frankie stood there, glaring at each other. Danny leaned closer to Sasha. "Do I want to know what he did?"

"I'm sure that you'll find out after our honeymoon when she lodges a formal complaint," Sasha replied airily, before turning to their friends. "You two, go. And tell Patricia to sit. If the worst thing that Berchem does today is lose his yamaka, I'll count myself lucky."

As Tavi and Frankie disappeared through the doors, Danny looked down at Sasha. "I love you."

Sasha turned as the doors opened again, laughter dancing in her eyes. "Good. Because I love you too."