"I got it, I got it," Jensen mumbled, keeping a hand against his chest as he hobbled into the house. Cougar and Pooch were right by his side, just in case. After a few more days in the hospital, Jensen had finally convinced the staff to discharge him. Clay figured some of it had to do with the doctors being eager to get their group out of the building after being there for so long.
The plane ride home had been a bit stressful, with Jensen trying to pretend he wasn't in pain the whole time. The biggest clue was that he was quiet, which was pretty jarring compared to the flight to the mission. Even Roque looked off about it. He ended up crushing up a cocktail of the painkillers that the hospital sent with them, dosing him bit by bit while Pooch was distracted hassling the pilot. Pooch had been pissed when he realized what Roque had done until Jensen relaxed and passed out, tipping over to rest against Roque's shoulder. They'd stayed that way for the rest of the flight, after Pooch threatened him with Cougar if he moved.
"And you're going to get it all the way to your bed," Pooch laughed, leading him toward the bedrooms.
"Aw man, I've been in bed for so long," Jensen whined.
"And you're going to stay in bed until I'm convinced you aren't going to keel over," Clay directed, pointing at him for emphasis.
"I don't keel," Jensen argued, sagging more against Pooch as his energy waned. "My falls are purposeful and controlled."
"Sure they are," Pooch scoffed, walking him the rest of the way and closing the door behind them. Clay watched them go, dropping his bags next to the couch. Even though he'd done a whole lot of nothing these past days, he was exhausted as well. Sitting at someone's bedside could be more stressful and tiring than even the most dangerous mission. But now they were home and sidelined again for the foreseeable future. It might be good for them though, since Roque seemed to be warming up to the new member. It wasn't like Clay expected them to talk all night and braid each other's hair, but the growing mutual respect was good enough for him.
"No one talk to me for the rest of the night," Roque grumbled as he brought the rest of the bags in. He had a big patch of partially dried drool on his shoulder from where Jensen had rested his head during the flight.
"Gotta rest up before you start your blade lessons with Jensen, right?" Clay grinned. Roque rolled his eyes, waving a dismissive hand in his direction as he stalked off. Leave it to Roque to offer an olive branch that still left him an excuse to wave the thoughtfulness away. It was just about making sure his teammate would have their back in the field, nothing more. But they all knew better.
Clay wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth though. While no one enjoyed the way they got here, this was the best possible outcome. Roque was accepting and everyone was alive. He couldn't really ask for anything more.
Clay raced around the buildings on base, with Cougar and Pooch hot on his heels, trying to get to his men. The first day he'd been let out of the house alone and Jensen had gotten into trouble. He wasn't technically alone, since they'd sent Roque to follow him at a distance, but evidently that hadn't mattered.
No one would tell him what was going on, just something about hospitals and disciplinary action. All Jensen was supposed to do was go to the base office to sign some paperwork, then come right back. How could that lead to so much chaos? And what was Roque's part in all this?
They'd been home for a week now and while they weren't chummy, there were no more biting remarks like there had been before. Jensen and Roque had even shared a couch at one point, which felt like a major win. Maybe sending Roque as overseer had been pushing it, but nothing bad was supposed to happen.
"I should've gone with him," Pooch muttered, barely refraining from shoving a group of men in their path out of the way. Pooch probably wouldn't let Jensen out of his sight after this.
Clay pushed through the doors of their destination, scanning the room for either of his men. It wasn't an office, where Jensen should've been, but one of the mess halls. He really had no business being here, since they had food at home and Jensen didn't mention any people he wanted to talk to. Something obviously wasn't right.
"Clay!" Jensen shouted, waving at him from where he was surrounded by a throng of people in the corner.
"What the hell!" Pooch exclaimed, rushing forward with Cougar to get between Jensen and the people around him. They didn't look like they were doing anything wrong, but Pooch was way too protective to leave it up to chance.
"Back up!" Clay demanded, using the most intimidating voice he could muster. The group split apart, revealing a slightly disheveled looking Jensen. He was a bit paler than Clay remembered him being when he left the house earlier and his bottom lip was split and bleeding a little. But the most worrying part was the fact that he was rubbing his chest, right where his bullet wound was.
"What the hell? Are you okay?" Pooch asked, grabbing Jensen's cheeks to inspect his face.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Jensen replied, a little breathlessly.
"What happened?" Clay asked, glaring at anyone who got too close.
"Oh man, it was crazy. So, I went to the base office to sign the paperwork and everything went fine. I was on my way back to the house, but then I ran into Welch. It seems he's still a bit salty about what happened," Jensen explained, wincing at all the words he was forcing out between rushed breaths. "He helpfully escorted me into an empty room so we could sort out our differences."
"That son of a bitch," Pooch hissed.
"I tried to make him see reason. I mean, he could've been the one shot if he'd stayed on the team. Telling him that he practically owed me his life probably wasn't the best idea," Jensen smirked. "So, then there was a little bit of pushing, but nothing too bad."
"Really? You're bleeding and you sound like you're two seconds away from an asthma attack," Pooch pointed out.
"Hey, I may not be singing opera anytime soon, but I don't sound that bad," Jensen whined. "And Welch isn't even the reason I'm bleeding."
"What? Who else was there?" Clay asked. He was going to have the head of everyone involved.
"That was the really wild part. Out of nowhere, Roque comes in and starts wailing on the guy. Like scary levels," Jensen scoffed, shaking his head as if he still couldn't believe it. "I tried to step in and separate them and caught an elbow for my trouble. A few officers ran in not too long after that and took them."
"Where are they now?"
"They took Roque off in handcuffs. Welch, I assume, was headed straight for the base hospital," Jensen answered, lowering his voice to a whisper for the next part. "I never knew the human body could sound so crunchy."
"Shit," Clay grunted.
"I know. Then they herded me in here to wait for I don't know what. I tried to explain what happened, but no one would listen to me," Jensen sighed. "Roque was just defending me. I don't want him to get in trouble for that."
"I'll get this sorted out," Clay said, scrubbing a hand down his face. "I'm gonna go try to get eyes on Roque, while you go get checked out by a doctor."
"What, no! I'm coming with you," Jensen insisted.
"You need to make sure no damage was caused to your wound."
"I'm fine!" Jensen argued. Cougar poked him lightly to the side of his wound and Jensen would've gone down if Pooch wasn't there to hold him up.
"Are you sure about that?" Clay snorted.
"Dammit Cougs, not cool!" Jensen huffed. "That doesn't count. That was practically a sniper attack."
"You'll do no one any good if you let yourself get worse just because you're sick of doctors," Clay sighed. Jensen's face went serious before he turned pleading eyes toward him.
"We're a team and we stick together, right? Roque stuck his neck out for me and the least I can do in return is try to get him out of trouble," Jensen said, brushing off Pooch's hands and standing up taller. Clay could respect the determination Jensen was showing right now, even while he was in obvious pain. Adding him to the team really had been the right call.
"You let them help you if you need it, am I clear? And right after we sort out Roque, you are getting checked out by a real doctor. No Cougar this time," Clay relented, pointing a stern finger at him.
"Yes sir," Jensen agreed, smiling in relief. Clay nodded, turning to glare the crowd around them out of the way. They scattered to other parts of the room while he led his men to the exit, standing tall and ready to take on anything for their final member.
The base lockup was only a few buildings down and it only took them a few minutes to get there. Jensen powered through the trek, not letting any pain show on his face as they went. Pooch and Cougar still hovered at his sides, but he didn't need any saves along the way.
The holding area was small, since this wasn't the type of place you brought prisoners back to. And most of the people around here knew better than to need to be locked up. The shooter from a few weeks ago was probably the last guest they'd had here. At least, until Roque got to enjoy their hospitality.
"I'm here to see Captain William Roque," Clay said, staring down at the officer manning the front desk.
"I'm sorry, but-"
"No, I'm not doing that this time," Clay ground out. He wasn't going to play the sneaking game he had with Pooch at the hospital to see Jensen. "I am his commanding officer and I demand to see him right now. I'm already angry son, don't make me have to direct any of that toward you." The younger man was staring up at him with wide eyes, looking like he was questioning all the choices that led him to this place and time.
"Down the hall to your left," he squeaked, pointing to a set of double doors. Clay nodded in satisfaction, signalling for the others to follow him. Just as he suspected, Roque was the only one back there in lockup, besides a few more officers standing guard. From what he could see, Roque wasn't hurt, which wasn't surprising. Most times when there was a hand to hand incident with him, Roque came out the other side barely breaking a sweat.
"Roque, you good?" Clay asked, stepping right up to the other side of the bars. Roque snorted, relaxing on the stiff bench that was available with his eyes closed.
"Just peachy. This is definitely how I wanted to spend my day," Roque scoffed.
"I don't know. You get into scraps so often that I'm beginning to think you like it. Not getting enough attention at home?" Clay smirked.
"Maybe. Are you the daddy I'm having issues with?"
"I guess. Especially since I'm the one who's got to beg your way out of this mess," Clay sighed. "Did you have to put him in the hospital? Couldn't he have just gotten a warning?"
"Welch didn't learn his lesson the last time he messed with what was ours. He won't make that mistake again," Roque replied, a malicious grin splitting his face.
"I'm one of yours?" Jensen whispered from where he'd been standing quietly with the others. Roque lifted his head and looked over, finally seeing that it wasn't just him and Clay there.
"What are you doing here? You get checked out by the doctors yet?" Roque asked, rolling off his seat and walking up to stand closer to everyone.
"Course not. Had to come here first," Pooch snorted. "Can't leave either of you alone for a second."
"I'm sorry you're stuck in here. If I'd known this would happen, I would've told you to leave Welch and I alone," Jensen murmured.
"You think I'm going to let a pissant screw with my team? Especially when you probably still should be in bed?" Roque scoffed, looking him over. "That's not how this works."
"Really?"
"And after you've recovered, get ready for some hand to hand training. No more letting guys push you around."
"I can hold my own, I just like to pick my battles," Jensen defended.
"We'll see about that," Roque replied, smirking at Jensen's worried look.
"Hang tight, okay? I'm gonna go see about getting you out of here, while Jensen gets checked out by a doctor with no arguments," Clay said pointedly, cutting off Jensen before he could say anything. He just nodded in resignation, sending Roque an apologetic look.
"Stay strong, brother," Pooch said, turning Jensen and leading him out of the room with Cougar.
"Yet again, violence brings people together."