Of course by the time they changed and got back to the office, the place was swarming with officers and hire ups, demanding details on what happened. Clay and Pooch plastered their most placid, non trouble making looks on their faces, praying that this wouldn't take too long. Roque had laughed at them during their brief stop in the barracks, wishing them good luck and telling them he'd see them tomorrow. Cougar was off doing whatever snipers did in their down time.

Luckily the office was decked out in surveillance cameras, because no expenses were spared for the bigwigs. They'd been stuck in general housing since coming back after their last mission, due to their normal base accommodations getting infested with cockroaches. One last gift Lake had left them with. Apparently leaving a bowl of fruit under his bed before they took off on an extended mission was a normal thing for him. Now they were slumming it in the barracks until their house could be fumigated. Maybe being the hero in this situation would get them to push those orders through quicker.

One convenient thing to come from this was actually meeting their new tech in person. He'd shown up right before Clay and Pooch were about to make their escape and introduced himself. Corporal Welch seemed pleasant enough, greeting them with enthusiasm that may have been a little suspicious, but Clay knew he was pretty jaded. The guy even brought them new satellite phones, bragging about how they were top of the line and very hard to get. Clay didn't really care about specifics, as long as the things worked.

Pooch was practically vibrating with the need to go check on Corporal Jensen. It had been a few hours at this point and they'd gotten no news about him. None of the people they'd talked to had seemed to know or care about how the other man was doing, but Pooch sure did. He owed the man a proper thank you for what he'd done.

They finally walked over to the medical building, waiting for what seemed like ages behind a man complaining about some sort of billing error. Clay could tell Pooch wanted to throttle the man, but held himself back by the skin of his teeth. They'd seen enough action for the day. When the man eventually left, Clay put on his most charming smile and stepped up to the woman at the desk.

"Hey there, how's it going? We were hoping to get some information on a Corporal Jake Jensen. We brought him in earlier with a gunshot wound," Clay explained, leaning casually on the edge of the counter. Sometimes it was better to go the friendly route than the do you know who I am route.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't give out confidential patient information," the woman replied blandly, barely looking up from her notes.

"We don't want to know his entire medical history, we just want to know if he's okay!" Pooch blurted out, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Is he still here? Can we talk to him ourselves?"

"Corporal Jensen is not taking visitors at this time," the woman said, dismissing them with a wave of her pen. Pooch was about to flip out even more, but Clay stopped him with a hand on his chest. There was a better way to deal with this.

"We understand, thank you," Clay said politely, flashing a smile the woman couldn't even be bothered to look up at. He grabbed Pooch's arm and started pulling him back toward the waiting area.

"What the hell?" Pooch grumbled.

"We weren't going to get anything else from her and I didn't want to bother wasting any more time today."

"But-"

"Look, we know he's still here, right? Let's just go find him ourselves. We've snuck into more difficult places, haven't we?" Clay suggested with a grin.

"Why Colonel, it's not like you to break the rules," Pooch snickered, craning his neck to check if anyone was watching. Once he gave a little nod they started walking toward the doors that led to the back. The key was to act like you belonged. If you were acting suspicious, people would take notice.

They got through the doors without issue, striding purposefully as if they knew where they were going. Clay used a bit of deductive reasoning, canceling out certain areas where Jake was least likely to be. No to the burn unit and infectious diseases ward. Probably not the ICU, since he hadn't looked that bad. The long term rooms were probably out as well, at least he hoped. Most likely he was still in observation or somewhere close to that, where they could monitor him and boot him as soon as they could.

They quietly made their way down the halls, peeking into each room that they passed. This felt like a bigger invasion of privacy than just telling them the room Jake was in, but that was the logic of this place evidently. They probably expected people to give up, but Clay wasn't most people.

Clay was about to call this floor a bust when they got to a closed door at the end of a hall and heard quiet muttering. Pooch's ears perked up, reminiscent of those bobblehead dogs he was so fond of. Clay tipped his head in the direction of the room and let Pooch lead the way, carefully peeking his head in the doorway.

"No, no, I swear I didn't do anything. Please leave me alone," a voice moaned out. That was definitely their guy. They slipped into the room, glad to finally have some privacy. Jake was lying on the bed in a hospital gown, writhing around a little and squinting at them as they came closer.

"Hey, it's me Pooch, from the office earlier. Are you okay?" Pooch asked, walking up to stand next to the bed. "Clay's here too. We're the ones who brought you here, remember?" The Corporal was blinking somewhat comically, but Clay could tell he wasn't doing it for fun.

"Where are your glasses, kid?" Clay asked, checking around to see if they'd been set on a table nearby.

"They- mmm, they took 'em," Jake mumbled, reaching out blindly for Pooch's arm. Pooch let him cling on as soon as he made contact, pulling him closer to the bed.

"Damn man, how bad is your vision?" Pooch questioned lightly, shooting a look over at Clay. This wasn't normal.

"I- it's the drugs. They- they knew not to d-do it, but they did't listen," Jake stuttered, shaking his head in agitation.

"Okay, okay," Pooch soothed, going into mother hen mode. The team had all been victim to this side of Pooch at least once since they'd come together. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"There's a note- a note in my file. I have a- a reaction to some things, but they didn't listen. Messes with me, not the pain. Once they realized, t- too late. Couldn't overdose me. Please don't strap me down again," Jake gasped, biting his lip to try to stop it from trembling.

"They strapped you down?! Why?" Pooch exclaimed, getting more heated with each passing word.

"Stitches," Jake whimpered, kneading his fingers in Pooch's arm. Clay walked around the bed, wanting to get a better look at Jake's back. The gown was open, leaving the stark white bandage exposed. It was in a straight line, almost spanning the entire length of the kid's back.

"Shit," Clay muttered, running a hand down his face. If they'd held him down and sewn him up without proper painkillers, that would've been torture.

"But why would they take your glasses?" Pooch asked, as if that was the piece to worry about right now.

"T- tried to leave, so they took 'em. I- I didn't mean to, was just out of sorts. They stuck me in this room and- and told me to stay here until I could go," Jake said, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head. It reminded Clay of the time Roque had been hit with a hallucinogenic during a mission. That had been a long night that no one liked to talk about. "Told me to sleep it off, but I can't. Can't let- let my guard down."

"Oh hell no," Pooch growled, bouncing back up to his feet. Jake reared back a little, as if he was afraid he was the cause of Pooch's anger. "I'm not gonna stand for this."

"Pooch," Clay said in warning, giving the younger man a look.

"No Colonel, I'm not gonna stand by and let this happen. Messing with someone's vision is inhumane!" Pooch snapped, balling his fists.

"I'm not arguing that point with you, I'm just saying don't lose your cool. Pissing off the brass will help no one right now," Clay pointed out, waiting until Pooch calmed down a little before he continued. "Go ahead and find his glasses. I'm gonna try calling Welch on this new phone so he can find Roque and Cougar and let them know what's going on." Pooch gave him a curt nod and went on his way.

Clay sighed, moving to take Pooch's vacated spot on the bed. There weren't any chairs in the room, so obviously this wasn't a place they put someone who was expecting visitors. He couldn't wait to be off this base.

"I don't mean to- to be trouble. You don't have to stay," Jake mumbled, negating his words with the way he was convulsively pawing at Clay's pant leg.

"The only reason you're here is because you helped my man. It's the least we can do to make sure you're squared away," Clay said, turning his attention to his new phone. Welch had told him they should keep it on at all times while on base, just to get used to it before the next mission. He and Pooch hadn't stuck around long enough for him to explain all the features, but Clay figured a phone was a phone. "How long does it usually take for the drug to work its way out of your system?"

"Only a few more hours," Jake murmured, sounding clearer than Clay had heard him since they got there. Clay turned to look at him and noticed he was staring at the phone in his hand. "What are you doing with that?"

"Our new tech gave it to me earlier. He said it was top of the line," Clay replied, holding the device up closer to Jake's face so he could focus on it more easily. Jake went back to his constant blinking, frowning when it was close enough to see. "What's wrong?"

"This thing is crap," Jake snorted, bringing his hand up to touch it. Clay pulled it back, not willing to risk the kid breaking it in his drug induced stupor.

"Excuse me? How would you know that?" Clay asked. He didn't know whether to be angry or annoyed.

"Even at my worst I can recognize shitty equipment," Jake scoffed, shooting him a rueful smile. "That's a Flagner G Series, right?"

"Uh…" Clay mumbled, looking for a label. "So what if it is?"

"Well, I hope you're not planning on using it during a mission, because you'll most likely be screwed," Jake said, shrugging his shoulders before grimacing in pain. Clay gently pushed him back so he was laying more comfortably on his side.

"My tech told me it was one of the best. Why shouldn't I trust him?" Clay challenged. If there really was something wrong with the thing, he wanted to know while he still had a chance to do something about it. He didn't know how much stock he should put into someone under the influence, but he could at least check up on his concerns later.

"Some people just get caught up in the brand name. It's like a pretty package, but there's no substance. This kind of phone is for someone who wants to look cool around town, not someone relying on it in the middle of nowhere," Jake explained, getting a worried look on his face as soon as he finished. "Oh, I'm sorry! I don't mean to offend your tech. I'm sure he's a good guy and great at his job."

"Don't worry about that. He's a temp and I just met him this afternoon," Clay muttered, glaring at the piece of technology.

"Well, in that case, this phone is trash and I wouldn't even let my niece play with it without some extensive fiddling. That's pretty much more trouble than it's worth for this crap though," Jake chuckled, closing his eyes as he settled on his side.

"Interesting," Clay murmured, thinking over his options. He'd need to get the opinion of someone he knew and trusted before he did anything else. And if Jake was right, he was going to get rid of Welch before he had the chance to get them killed. If an impaired man in the hospital could do a better job than his tech, he needed a new tech.

"I got 'em!" Pooch announced in triumph, striding into the room with the glasses held high above his head. Jake perked back up, accepting Pooch carefully sliding them back on his face.

"Thanks man, I really appreciate it," Jake beamed, sitting up a little straighter. "Not being able to see made all this so much worse. It was like being drunk on a tilt-a-whirl, which I can confirm from experience. Not my best choice, but hey, I was fifteen."

"Right. Well, I should be thanking you. That was the whole point of us coming here really. To check up on you and so I could thank you for pushing me out of the way of that bullet," Pooch said, bringing his voice down lower as he got more serious. "I went back and saw where that bullet landed. Would've been right in the middle of my back. I owe you my life."

"I just did what anyone else would've done," Jake brushed off, looking down as his cheeks turned pink.

"Don't make light of what you did. Most people would've done nothing or tried to save themselves. You ran toward the danger. That takes balls," Pooch insisted.

"That's what we do, right? Us Army guys?" Jake mumbled. Clay decided to take pity on him and changed the subject.

"Did you run into any trouble out there?" Clay asked.

"Surprisingly no. I found a sympathetic nurse and she was all too happy to find what I needed when the Pooch turned on the charm," Pooch bragged, puffing out his chest.

"Of course," Clay chuckled, rolling his eyes. He didn't care what Pooch's story was, as long as there weren't any pissed off staff about to storm into the room.

"That's not all," Pooch grinned, wagging his eyebrows. He stuck a hand in his pocket and pulled something out, tossing it to him. Clay looked down, smirking at the item in his hand. "I just so happened to stumble across a few visitor's passes. I grabbed one for the whole team."

"Outstanding," Clay said, looking over toward Jake to see what he thought. Surprisingly, he found the Corporal fast asleep, his glasses tilted a bit on his face. Clay huffed out a quiet laugh, resisting the urge to take them off and set them on the table. He didn't want to wake the kid or make him think they were stolen again.

"I guess he finally let his guard down," Pooch mumbled, leaning against the wall. Clay tipped his head to the side in contemplation, thinking about what that might mean. The kid must be starved for some sort of connection if they were able to gain his trust enough so quickly. He couldn't worry about that right now though, he had business to attend to with his new tech.