A/N: I am now on AO3 so if this site goes down again like last time you will be able to find my stories there. I am also going to eventually post a few stories just to AO3. They will be more sexual and rated higher then M, so it will be better to post them on that platform then over here.

I am also going to from this point forward try and keep my stories on this site more T rated and then anything heavy in the sex department in my chapters will be over there. So stories on this site will be the chapters with a clean version of any sex, but if you enjoy reading the dirty version you can do so on my AO3 account for that chapter.

Chapter 5

Clay's head was killing him. He had no idea what was going on, but he felt like his whole head was going to explode. The sound of his alarm going off on his phone was not helping things at all. Clay reached his hand over to try and find his phone, but his hand didn't come into contact with his phone, but rather a naked body. Clay's eyes instantly shot open. The morning light coming through the curtains was only making his head hurt even more. Clay fought through the pain to see what the hell was going on. To the right of him was Candy, naked. Clay then noticed that he was naked and there was a hand on his dick. Clay looked over and saw that the hand belonged to Stokes. It was Stokes' phone going off and not his.

Clay instantly was moving Stokes' hand off of him and he was getting up out of the bed. Clay headed out of the bedroom and grabbed his duffle bag before going into the bathroom. He could vaguely hear voices coming from the bedroom but he didn't care. He needed time to think. He needed time to get his head to stop hurting so he could focus on what the fuck happened last night. Clay closed the door and turned the shower on as hot as he could tolerate it before he got in. Once he was alone under the hot water Clay closed his eyes and forced his mind to think.

He tried to remember last night, but it got fuzzy so he focused on what he could remember. He remembered getting here last night. He remembered meeting Candy and having pizza. He remembered the beer and whiskey. He remembered doing cocaine and Molly, something he wasn't sure how he felt about just yet. He could remember how amazing it felt, how the cocaine made him feel so numb and light. It felt amazing, Clay still couldn't believe how a drug could make him feel absolutely nothing. Yes it made him awake and gave him energy, but he didn't care too much about that. He liked how it made him just numb to all of the pain he was going through. He also really liked that it turned his mind off. There weren't images of people being shot, killed, blown up, hurt. All the darkness that his mind had not only seen but remembered thanks to his memory, it all stopped. The constant movie of death playing in his mind had finally stopped and it was remarkable.

Clay focused his mind on what happened after the drug use. He could only really pick up bits and pieces of the night after that. He remembered eating Candy out. He remembered the feeling of being inside of her. But then he remembered feeling something in his throat. That's when everything clicked. He had given Stokes a blowjob. He had Stokes' dick in his mouth, down his throat. He had swallowed Stokes' cum. Clay couldn't believe this. He had never done anything with another man before, he never wanted to and he had just had a threesome with a teammate last night. Clay couldn't believe he had let this happen, this was never supposed to happen in his life. Clay had no idea what he was going to do now. How the hell was he going to be able to work with Stokes? Clay had no idea if Stokes was straight or bi-sexual or what he was, but this had to make things awkward between them.

That was before Clay was even able to sort out his own feelings about it. He could clearly remember doing those things. He remembered moaning and it feeling good, but Clay couldn't figure out if it felt good because he was so high or because he liked it. Clay never looked at another man and thought they were attractive. He never had any sexual desires about another man. It had to be from the drugs that he had done those things, that he had been turned on by them. At least Clay thought that was the reason. The bathroom door opening pulled Clay out of his thoughts. He started to wash himself, he still had work today.

"Hey Pretty Boy, how you feeling?" Stokes asked, as he walked in naked and headed over to the toilet to take a leak.

"Um, hey. Look, about last night." Clay started. He really didn't know how to go about having this conversation, but he did know he couldn't put it off. It was better to get it over and done with.

"It was a fucking blast wasn't it? Candy is always good for a fun time. You were a lot of fun last night. How much do you remember?" That was what Stokes was a little uncertain of how much Clay would remember or not. He didn't give him that much Devil's Breath just enough to make him easier to manipulate.

"Almost all of it. Look, I don't know what you normally do or anything, but I don't do stuff like that. I don't look at guys that way, and if you do that's cool I'm not judging or anything, but it's just not my thing." Clay said.

He didn't know if it was even Stokes' thing, but Clay didn't want to come across as an asshole either. Stokes just gave a chuckle to that.

"Don't worry about it Pretty Boy. I don't tend to do stuff with guys either. We were both drunk and very high, shit happens. You don't have to worry about me looking to take you to prom or something." Stokes said with a chuckle.

That made Clay feel a lot better, knowing that Stokes wasn't taking this personally or wasn't expecting anything. Didn't make it less awkward, but Clay knew that would fade eventually.

"Ok good. One time thing that we can never talk about." Clay said, relieved.

"It was fun Pretty Boy, just leave it at that. You need more fun in your life. But if you don't hurry up and get that ass out of the shower so I can shower, we're gonna be late and that is not something Maddoc is understanding about." Stokes said with a smirk.

Clay finished rinsing his hair before he turned the water off and grabbed a towel to wrap around his waist before he opened the door and got out. He saw Stokes standing there still completely naked.

"We don't got long, why don't you put on some coffee, I'll be out in a couple minutes." Stokes said, as he headed into the shower.

Clay gave a nod and made quick work of getting dried off and dressed before he headed out into the kitchen to get the coffee going. He still needed some time to get his mind sorted about what happened last night. He was happy that Stokes was taking it for what it was, just a drunken night that will never happen again. At the same time though, that didn't make it any easier. Clay really had no idea how he felt about what happened last night. He didn't feel all that great right now. His head hurt, his throat was sore, he felt hungover as hell. Clay was hoping it would be like a normal hangover and once he got some coffee into him he would start to feel better.

Clay went over to check his phone to make sure he didn't have any missed messages or calls. Only a handful of people have his new number, one of which being Ash. He only gave it to him in case something happened to Ash and he had to be reached. He saw that Ash had sent him a text message looking to meet up tonight for dinner. Clay was not impressed by it at all. Nor was he impressed that Ash didn't even ask if he wanted to, he just told him when and where the reservations were made. Clay didn't even bother to respond. If Ash was going to just assume he would be there, he could sit there alone at the restaurant like an idiot waiting.

Stokes came back out of the bathroom in a towel as he headed into his bedroom without closing the door.

"You never answered my question, how are you feeling?" Stokes said, as he got dressed.

"Hungover." Clay answered honestly.

Stokes gave a chuckle to that.

"Ya that can happen, especially the first time you do it. Tell me though, how much did you like it?"

"I don't know." Clay said, trying to downplay it.

"Oh come on, you know how you felt. Tell me." Stokes said, as he came out dressed.

Clay answered as he poured himself a cup of coffee in his to-go mug. "I liked it, probably more than I should."

"How did it make you feel? That big brain of yours." Stokes said, as he got his own coffee ready.

"Awake, but kinda numb at the same time. It made everything go quiet, which was nice. I liked it a lot."

"That's good, because you can do it again. And we now know that you won't have any negative reactions to it."

"Which is good in the field. But I can't see me doing it again."

Clay knew that cocaine could become addicting, that was the last thing he wanted to worry about.

"You say that now, but after a bad mission you are going to want that escape again. And you're not the only one. We all do it, some of us more than others. I like to party, same as Keith. The other guys use it when they need that pick me up or to just feel good after a shitty day."

"I still can't believe you guys can all use it and there's no problems with it."

Clay knew they didn't get drug tested, but didn't anyone notice? Didn't they ever get caught buying it?

"Why would we? We don't have it on us at work and it's not like we're snorting it in the mess hall or anything. And we really don't get drug tested. There's nothing to worry about." Stokes said, as he went into the living room.

"So you guys have never gotten caught buying it or using it?"

"Well buying it is simple, we don't." Stokes said, as he pulled out an ounce of cocaine in a baggie with a black spider logo on it. "We take it from the drug traffickers that we raid. We don't ever have to spend money on it and we always get the good shit. And like I said, we don't use around people. When we're on tour we stay in our own quarters so we can use it if we want. This is for you, I got plenty of it. In case you change your mind." Stokes said, as he placed the baggie into Clay's side pocket of his duffle bag.

"It's fine really, I don't need it." Clay was not really comfortable having drugs in his bag. He liked how it made him feel, but that didn't mean he needed to be using it.

"Trust me, you are going to change your mind. Relax, it's not like someone is going to go through it. Come on, we gotta get going. You wanna drive together?" Stokes asked, as he grabbed his things.

"No, I got meetings after work I have to get to." Clay said, as he grabbed his things as well. He picked up his duffle bag just because he didn't really know where he was going to be staying tonight.

"You can crash here again too if you want." Stokes offered, as they headed out.

"Thanks I appreciate it. I'm gonna see about a permanent place, but if I can't work it out today I'll text you before coming by."

Clay did appreciate Stokes allowing him to crash on his couch. It did take some of the stress off his shoulders. It wasn't a long-term solution though, more like a very short-term one. He had to figure out what to do about his living situation.

"No problem. Might even make it to the couch tonight." Stokes said with a smirk and a wink at Clay.

Clay gave an awkward chuckle to that as they walked out. When they got down to the parking lot they both headed off to their cars. Clay was hoping they didn't get spun up today just so he could get to his meetings and have that part closed and finalized. He didn't want to drag it all out, that was the last thing he wanted to do. Hopefully today it could just be done and he could start working towards getting the debt paid down and finding a place to live. He was going to see if there was some way he could pick up some more hours doing something, even on the weekends to help increase his monthly earnings. He won't have a vehicle, so he won't need to worry about his truck payments or insurance for it. A studio apartment was roughly eight hundred a month, if he could just make an extra five or seven hundred a month he would be able to afford a studio apartment. It was just a matter of being able to do something alongside what he was already doing. Clay would speak to someone about it today and see what he could get. One thing he did know, it was going to be another long day.

XXX

Bravo team headed into their war room as they were all paged to come down. They figured they were going to be spun up and everyone was feeling the loss of Clay. It would be the first time they would be going on an operation without Clay and it hurt. They all took their seats and saw Blackburn, Mandy and Davis standing at the front. Mandy didn't look happy at all. She was still pissed about losing Clay, blaming them for it. But unlike the others, she was pissed off because she would be losing operations now to Delta. Jason knew she cared about her career, he just didn't think she cared over their well-fare, at least she never used to. He knew she was getting a lot of crap from her superiors about some of the things that had happened. It seemed like she was going backwards and starting to keep people at a distance like she used to in the beginning of her career.

"A situation has come up, two of them actually. The first is in regards to Bravo. The CIA have heard of Clay's transfer, they were not pleased. What I was not made aware of, Clay is labeled as a CIA asset due to his high IQ and language skills. They were very displeased to hear that he would be moving down to a lower ranking team. I also got the impression that Delta's current CIA handler is an idiot." Blackburn started.

"That's good though right? Can't they make Clay come back to us?" Sonny said, he was finally hopeful that they could turn this whole thing around.

"They can't actually. What they can do is change their CIA handler." Blackburn started.

"I'm being transferred over to Delta, effective immediately." Mandy said, not impressed at all.

Now it all made sense why she was so pissed off right now. She was technically being demoted by having to work with a lesser ranked team, all so she can be connected with Clay. The guys had no idea that Clay had been labeled a CIA asset, something that they should have been informed of. They were also pissed that they would be losing Mandy and getting stuck with someone they didn't know or could fully trust. At the same time though, Jason felt a small sense of comfort. Clay wouldn't be alone over on Delta, he would at least have Mandy. Not that she was very close with Clay, but she was excellent at her job. She would make sure they had the proper intel for every operation they went on. She always made sure to give her guys the best chance of mission success.

"Are you kidding me? So who the hell do we get?" Ray asked, pissed off by this.

"I don't know yet. They haven't been assigned or they haven't informed me yet. There's nothing we can do about this. They want Mandy with Clay, regardless of what team he is on. This is more of an FYI, then a discussion." Blackburn said.

"This is bullshit." Full Metal commented.

"Ya, well that is what happens when you get drunk and decide to destroy a teammate's home." Mandy said, with a pointed look at Sonny.

"Which brings us to the second issue we have to discuss. Beau, Tyler and Miller will be joining us in a minute along with Blockhead, Jackson and Ricky. Upper brass has heard the whispers about what happened to Clay's apartment and the reason for the transfer. They are furious, they want to make an example out of all of those involved to ensure nothing this dishonorable happens again." Blackburn said.

"What does that mean?" Jason asked, not liking the sound of this.

Before Blackburn could answer, there was a knock at the door.

"Enter." Blackburn said, knowing it would be the others.

The door opened and everyone that was expected to be here came walking in. Jason could see that Beau was annoyed, but not because he had to be here. It seemed like the others had been briefed on what their man had done to Clay's apartment. Everyone went to take a seat or to lean against something when Beau spoke to his man Jackson.

"Do not sit down."

The edge to Beau's voice had everyone cringing. He was not often a man that got angry, but when he did, everyone felt it. Jackson stood up, knowing he was in deep shit and waited like he was told.

"I see you all are aware of what has happened in the past couple of days." Blackburn started.

"Oh we found out. Delta has been very vocal about it." Tyler, Romeo One, said, not even the least bit impressed.

"You are all here today because the Upper brass has gotten wind of what happened and they are looking to make an example out of those responsible. Each team leader is expected to dish out a punishment and inform Upper Brass of what it will be. They are also knocking the four of you down a ranking level. So Sonny, you are now Bravo Four. Blockhead, you are Romeo Six and Ricky, Tango Three." Blackburn stated.

"What? They can't do that." Ricky said, pissed. He had worked hard to get up to his 2IC spot, and now he was going to lose that.

"They can and they are. Be glad that they are not dishonorably discharging you. We will leave you all alone to discuss how you will handle your own internal punishment. Inform the Upper Brass when you have come to a decision." Blackburn said, before him, Mandy and Davis headed out.

"You're not really going to drop us down a rank right?" Blockhead said.

"Orders came from the Upper Brass, we follow orders. And if you didn't want to be demoted, you should have thought of that before you destroyed a fellow Frogman's home." Tyler said, not impressed at all.

"What is Spenser's situation? I heard he was running with Delta now." Beau asked Jason.

None of them liked Delta. They all knew that team was no good, but they were connected to someone high enough within the Upper Brass to protect them. No one knew who though. Beau liked Clay, even if he did remind him of a younger Jason, he was very good at what he did and he did not belong in Delta.

"He is. There was the opportunity for him to be Alpha Two, but he didn't want anything to do with Bravo or any team that iced him out when he was innocent. Delta was the only team to leave him alone. Though, that was due to Maddoc making sure of it. He is aware that Maddoc is using him, but he's not too concerned with that right now. As for his situation, he's been evicted, he had to give his truck back in order to secure a loan to cover the damages. The apartment has close to a hundred grand in damages from what the four of them did. That does not count the damage done to his personal property. They destroyed every single book he had, so you can imagine the amount he is out." Jason said, as he stood up and moved around the room.

"For fuck sakes. He had first edition books that were hundreds of years old. It's what, sixty, seventy grand in books alone?" Beau said.

He knew about Clay's love for reading, hell he had borrowed a couple of his books. The kid would read anything and he had a genuine love for it. He spent his money on rare and first edition books, that was his passion outside of the teams.

"Closer to a hundred." Ray corrected.

"Fuck. What are we going to do?" Beau asked, the other leaders.

"Clay had to take a loan out to cover the damages. Based on what we can figure, his monthly payments will be around thirty-two hundred a month. He makes thirty-five hundred, leaving him only three hundred a month to live off of." Ray said.

"Minus his monthly insurance coverage fee." Tyler stated.

"Exactly. He doesn't even have any money to get a place to live. So damages to the apartment plus to his own personal property damage equals two hundred grand. What do you think, divide by four." Jason said as he looked at the other team leaders.

"You can't be serious." Jackson said.

"Do you think it's a good idea for you to say anything right now? You destroyed a brother's home. Ruined everything he owned, put him a hundred grand in debt, made him homeless, with barely enough money to eat in the month. All of that is because of you four and your actions. The very least you can do is pay back your share of the damages." Beau said with an edge to his voice.

"I don't care how you do it, but each month you will be paying him a minimum of a grand to start paying off your debt. None of you are married or have children, there's no reason why you can't start paying him off. Fifty grand each." Miller said.

"Now for your punishment. I don't know what these guys are going to do, but Blockhead, you will be on the next flight out to the reform program in Texas. I'll see you in six months, assuming you pass and there is still a spot on my team." Tyler said.

He was not going to be tolerating any of this. He was going to be making an example out of Blockhead so everyone will know to never go against the brotherhood ever again.

"Yes Sir." Blockhead knew better than to try and argue with Tyler. Once he made up his mind, that was it.

"Ricky, Green Team needs a new instructor. You'll be it. We'll see if you have learnt something in six months when they are completed." Miller ordered.

Miller just gave a nod, he knew he fucked up and he was man enough to accept his punishment.

"As for you Jackson, you will be trading places with Donaldson on support until I deem you have earned your place back on the team." Beau said.

It was clear that Jackson wasn't happy about this. He knew he screwed up, but he didn't think he deserved to be punished to this extreme. He was already knocked down a rank, plus he had to pay back fifty grand. Now he was being demoted again to Support, it was too much in his opinion, but he knew he couldn't say that or he would be kicked out completely.

"That just leaves you Sonny. You're going to be the one out of the four of you that has to carry this with you forever. To them he was just a brother in arms, but to you, he was your kid brother, your best friend, and you did this to him. First thing, zero alcohol until I say otherwise. If I find out you've even had one sip I'll cut that trident right off your chest and you will never get it back. Do I make myself clear?" Jason said with a tightness to his voice.

"Yes Sir." Sonny said with a voice thick of emotions.

"Second, consider yourself the team bitch. Whenever we need something, you're going to do it. From helping with inventory, to helping Davis with whatever she needs. If Brock tells you to walk Cerb, you walk him. You didn't just hurt Clay, you hurt all of us. You hurt this team. I could kick you off this team, I could send you to the reform camp. In reality though, there's nothing I could do to you that would be more painful then you having to live with that shame. And let me make myself very clear, this is my punishment to you. Clay is the wronged party and he has every right to place his own punishment for you." Jason finished.

What Jason said was true. Sonny was the closest to Clay outside of Jason. They were best friends and he had hurt him in one of the worst possible ways. Sonny was going to have to carry that guilt and shame for the rest of his life. That guilt and shame was the worst punishment anyone could give him and the guys all knew it.

"I'm sorry for this. I'll reach out to Clay and see what I can do. I know we don't really like each other, but maybe I could get him to transfer to me." Beau said.

"I'll take any team I can get that isn't Delta at this point." Jason said honestly.

He didn't like Beau, but at least Beau would respect Clay and allow him to grow. The six of them headed out, leaving only Bravo in their war room. The tension in the room was tight, every one of them were dealing with their emotions from what they had just learnt. No one really knew what to say, but after a moment Sonny spoke up.

"I really am truly sorry you guys." Sonny said, with tears building in his eyes.

"We know you are Son." Ray said, gently.

The guys all knew what toll this was taking on him. Sonny was rough around the edges but he cared deeply for his brothers, especially Clay. Clay was his first kid brother and Sonny loved him like they grew up in the same house together. Jason meant what he said, living with this was the ultimate punishment for him.

"It'll take time, but we'll move past this. We'll make it right and earn Clay's trust and respect back. We won't stop until we do." Jason said, gently.

He hated that he had to be tough with Sonny, but he had to be a team leader and not just a brother. It was a line he had to walk on many occasions, but that didn't make it any easier. Thankfully, Sonny understood that and knew it wasn't personal. Jason just wished he had told Clay it wasn't personal, maybe then he wouldn't feel so betrayed by him.

XXX

To say that Clay was miserable would have been an understatement. He was able to secure the loan, it was painful how much it was going to put a drain on him. His credit, which had been perfect, was now in the toilet from it all. He had to sign his truck back over and the judgmental looks did not go unnoticed by him. As if that wasn't enough insult to injury, he spoke with his Captain about picking up some extra work, but he did not approve of having a Tier One operator doing anything but training and going on operations. So he couldn't pick up extra money on his paycheque, which meant he couldn't get his own studio apartment. He could try to find something outside of the Navy, but it wasn't that simple with his scheduling being unpredictable. Not to mention when he goes on tour he won't be able to do anything. He had no truck, no place to live, and no money to even afford food at this point.

That is exactly why he was now walking to the restaurant to meet Ash. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but figured since his life went to hell because of him, Ash owed him at the very least a fucking meal and Clay planned on ordering the steak. Clay walked in and saw Ash sitting at a table, so he made his way over to it. He placed his duffle bag down before he sat down.

"Going somewhere?" Ash asked, as he noticed the duffle bag.

"Nope." Clay said, as the waiter came over. "I'll have a double whiskey please." Clay said when asked.

Ash ordered a whiskey as well and the waiter headed off.

"What's with the duffle bag then?" Ash asked.

"That's all that is left of my things. Because of your interview and how you made it seem like I was the one feeding you classified intel, I lost everything." Clay said with an edge to his voice. All of his anger at this situation seemed to be coming out at Ash.

He was an easy target, even though technically it wasn't all his fault. He did the interview, but he didn't make Bravo react the way that they did. They did that all on their own and they deserved to carry that blame.

"I never said it was you doing it. Just that I had a source within the Navy. It's not on me if people assumed it was you. And how did you lose everything from it? Any investigation would have shown you weren't the source." Ash said, but Clay could tell he didn't truly care.

"The team assumed I was the one supplying the info. They started to turn their backs on me, then four of the Team Guys from different teams, destroyed my apartment, causing almost a hundred grand in damages. I got evicted, I had to get a loan that has a high monthly payment that I had to give my truck back and I can't afford a new place. So now I have no home, no truck and I transferred off of Bravo and onto Delta because of it. All thanks to your little interview." Clay said, with an edge as the waiter brought their drinks over.

Clay drank half of his as Ash spoke.

"That's not on me. I can't control how they react and their judgments of you. Clearly they didn't trust you very much to begin with. I told you Bravo was the wrong team for you, but you didn't listen." Ash said, with a shrug.

"That's what you're taking from that? I am literally homeless. I'm going to have to sleep on the street. And you want to sit here and brag about being right?"

This was unbelievable, of course Ash wanted to gloat about being right. He could never just be a father and sit there and listen to him. Clay was insane for even thinking he would give a fuck about him.

"It's important to point it out when you're right. As for the homeless part, I might have a business deal that could work for the both of us." Ash said with a smirk. One Clay wanted to punch off of his face.

"And what would that be?" Caly asked.

He really didn't want to have anything to do with Ash, especially in a business sense. At the same time, he was curious to see what Ash had to say. If nothing else it would give him another reason to not like him.

"I have an apartment that I use when I need to have a client in hiding for one reason or another. It's fully furnished and close to the base. It's empty right now. I will allow you to stay there rent free in exchange that you work for me."

"You're joking." Clay stated. There was no way that Ash was going to let him live in an apartment completely rent free. There had to be a catch, and it was more than just working for him.

"I'm not. I need your language skills for translations. With them I will be able to charge for translation services and be able to utilize the languages that you speak. I'll make a fortune off of it. You work for me in exchange for getting to live in my apartment. I'll continue to pay the rent, utilities, cable and the Internet. All you have to do is get the translations done by their deadline. As an added bonus, for every new language you learn and can provide me with the official certificate, I'll pay you two hundred bucks. The more you learn the more you make."

"And the more you can make. I'll be working for free while you'll be getting paid five hundred minimum a piece." Clay pointed out.

"At the very least. But you'll have a roof over your head and you won't have to worry about your bills. All you will have to do is buy food and pay off that loan. It's the perfect business deal, especially for me. But if you would rather be sleeping in a cardboard box, that's up to you. I'll find someone else that would like the opportunity." Ash said with a shrug.

He didn't care either way and Clay knew it. Clay wanted to say no, he really did, but he also knew he would be stupid to say no. He didn't have anywhere to go. He didn't have a family to rely on that could help him. He couldn't keep crashing at Stokes' place, especially after last night. Clay was still really uncomfortable with what happened. He knew they were all high and drunk, but still he felt weird by it. He really didn't understand why it felt good, drugs or not. He needed time to sort it out and figure out if maybe he was attracted to men as well. It would be better to keep some distance between him and Stokes if he could. Clay knew that Ash was only offering this because he would be able to make really good money from it. Clay would be doing all of the work and Ash would be the one making thousands of dollars a month from it. Clay could have said no and then tried to get his own translation business up and running, but that would take money to get started and he would have to try and find clients. It was also walking a fine line with still being in the Navy. It just wasn't a viable option right now. The only one that was viable was Ash's.

"When do I start?" Clay asked.

"I got a spare laptop in my truck, you can use it for the translations. I already have a bunch that need to be done. Each one will show you when they are due by. I'll give you the spare key to the apartment and you can start crashing there tonight." Ash easily said.

"I want it in writing, all of it, including the bonus for learning a new language." Clay said.

He did not trust Ash and he was not going to be doing anything unless there was a legal binding contract between them.

"You always were smart. I'll draw it up tonight and send it over to you."

The waiter came over to take their food over and Clay ordered the steak with mushrooms. At the surprised look from Ash Clay simply said.

"You're buying. Consider this a business meeting."

That got a small chuckle from Ash as he placed his own order in. Once the waiter left Ash spoke.

"We have a lot of interest in Russian translations. If you are going to learn a new language I would start with that one."

"I'll look into it."

Clay wasn't too bothered with learning a new language. The military will pay for the course and will give him a small bonus as well for the completion of it. He didn't really want to learn a new language as it would go into his file and then he could be used as a strap more often. But if he was able to get it done for free and make three hundred bucks off of it from the two bonuses, it would be worth it. It would take him a month to learn it fully with his memory, but that would also depend on how much work he had to do for spin ups and with the translations. Clay would do it though, he had to if he wanted a place to live and some extra money in his pocket.

Clay had to sit there for the rest of the dinner listening to Ash going on and on about his business and what is expected of him. Clay knew Ash was going to be a royal pain in his ass over this, but it was a pain he would have to deal with. Once dinner was over, Ash did in fact pay, they both headed out to Ash's truck. Ash grabbed the laptop and handed it over to Clay before giving him the spare key. Ash told Clay the address and Clay knew that Ash wasn't even going to give him a ride there. It was on the other side of town and would easily be a three hour walk there.

"There's some translations that I was going to have to work on. They are due tomorrow morning. You'll do them now. The ones that are blue are the ones that need to be done. If they are in red, they are twenty-four hours away from being due. Anything in green has been completed. Once you do the translations within the website, it will be submitted to the client for them to review. It's straightforward and simple, so you shouldn't have any questions." Ash explained.

"I got it. I'll make sure they are done."

"I'll be in contact in a couple of days. I don't want to hear any complaints from clients either."

Clay just gave a nod and Ash took this opportunity to twist the knife just a bit more.

"You work for me, I expect respect. When I tell you to do something, you say yes Sir. I won't tolerate any disrespect, understood?" Ash said with a sharpness to his voice.

Clay knew Ash was doing this on purpose and getting tingling at the power he now had. If there was one thing that Ash loved more than money, it was power and right now he had it all.

"Yes Sir." Clay simply said.

He wasn't in a position where he could tell Ash to go fuck himself. Clay wished he could, but in reality he couldn't afford to. Ash just smirked as he got into his truck and started to pull away. Clay let out a sigh, of course Ash wouldn't have even bothered with asking him if he wanted a ride. It was just after eight at night and Clay had easily a three hour walk ahead of him. He was just hoping that the work that was due tomorrow wouldn't take too long and he would be able to get some real sleep tonight. With no other way of getting to his new apartment, Clay started to walk in the right direction.

XXX

The guys were all at the Bulkhead to try and drink away this day from hell. They still couldn't believe that they had lost Mandy and were now going to have to deal with some new CIA handler that they didn't know or could trust. It was a nightmare, plan and simple.

"You know this is cruel right? Make me come here to watch you all drink and not be able to have any." Sonny grumbled.

"You wouldn't be complaining would you Sonny?" Jason said with an edge.

"Not at all Boss." Sonny instantly replied.

Not being allowed to drink until Jason said he could was a part of his punishment that was going to be the hardest. Sonny knew why it had to be this way, and he wasn't mad at Jason, but himself. Drinking had gotten them all in this mess and that was on him. He would take his punishment like a man and earn the team's respect and trust back.

"Well ain't this a perfect night."

The guys all turned at the sound of the voice. None of them were impressed to see a smiling Ash standing there. This was the last thing they wanted to be dealing with tonight.

"Go away PNG." Full Metal said, before he took a swig of his beer.

"Can I get a round for this table?" Ash said to the waitress as she walked by.

She gave a nod before heading off.

"We don't want anything from you." Jason growled.

"Oh it's the least I can do. After all thanks to you I'm going to make an additional half a million in revenue this year, easily." Ash said with a smile.

"Sworsky has been removed, so you got someone new to leak intel to you for a new book?" Sonny asked.

It was because of Ash's interview that started all of this. Sonny would have loved to break every bone in his face.

"Oh it's even better. I just had a lovely business dinner with my son. He's going to be working for me."

"Clay's not your son. Never has been and never will be." Jason instantly said.

"And there is no way in hell he would ever agree to working with you." Ray added.

"That is true. Up until now he was worthless to me. Now I finally have a use for his pathetic ass. And it's all thanks to you and how you destroyed his apartment. No place to live, no truck, and a mountain of debt, can't even afford to eat. And now thanks to my generosity, he's working for me for free in exchange for staying at one of my safe houses rent free. He's going to be doing translations for me, even gonna learn new languages for a cash bonus." Ash gave a small chuckle.

He was loving the shocked and pissed off looks on their faces. It was one more thing that they had done to Clay and Ash was loving it.

"You son of a bitch. Instead of helping him, you're using him." Jason said disgusted.

"Of course I'm gonna use him. He was all high and mighty about removing my footprints and making people forget my name. And now here he is, homeless, penniless with no one but me offering a hand. It was like a dream getting to watch him have no choice but to say yes to the offer. And when I told him I was his boss and he had to show respect, call me sir." Ash said with a huge smile. "Oh, I'll never get tired of hearing him saying yes sir to me."

Jason slammed his fists against the table top before he stood up and faced Ash. "You are a piece of shit you know that? He's supposed to be your son, you're supposed to love and care about him. Yet all you ever do is hurt him. You go out of your way to hurt him and make him miserable. This was your one chance of doing something good and right by him and instead you use him."

Jason knew Ash was a piece of shit, but he had no idea he would go this low. To actually put Clay in the position of working for him for free just so he had somewhere to live. The only thing that made this worse, was knowing it was because of their actions that Clay was even put into this position to begin with. Still, Ash was just taking advantage of Clay and in his current state. It was despicable.

"Children and love makes a man weak Hayes. Clay is weak, always has been and he always will be. Now his pathetic existence is useful to me and I plan on taking full advantage of it. You should be thanking me, I gave him a place to live so he wouldn't be on the street. It's your fault he's even in that position. You broke him, I'm just making a smart business deal." Ash said with a smirk.

"You all enjoy your night." Ash said to the rest of them with a chuckle before he headed over to the bar for a drink.

Seeing Ash here was only adding to the guys' bad mood. Ash had twisted the knife into their chest even more. Jason went and sat back down as Full Metal spoke.

"Don't see why we can't just kill him."

"Don't tempt us." Ray said.

"I got some lye in my truck. Wouldn't take much." Full Metal said.

"We can't kill him." Jason said.

"Don't see why the hell not. He's partly to blame for all of this shit we're going through now." Sonny argued.

"We're going through this because of the way we reacted to it. And like it or not, if we kill Ash, Clay won't have a place to live. We're not taking that from him." Jason sternly said.

As much as Jason would have loved to string Ash up by his balls and torture him to death, they couldn't. He wasn't going to have Clay out on the street and Clay wasn't ready to go to any of them for help. It was going to be a long time before that happened. At least Clay would have a place to sleep. He wasn't happy that Clay would be working for Ash and for free, but there wasn't anything he could do about that either. It was just another way he had failed Clay and it was not sitting well at all with Jason.

"This sucks." Brock simply said, and all of the guys could agree that basically summed it up.

XXX

Clay finally arrived at the apartment. He had to admit it did look nice, but he should have expected that from Ash. If this place was for clients it made sense that it would look nice. He would have wanted to impress them, but also anyone that could afford his services would have to have been wealthy. The apartment was actually a single level house that was all open concept. The kitchen was complete with white cabinets and a white marble countertop for both the kitchen and island in the room. All of the appliances were stainless steel as well. The living room to the right of him was large enough for a huge flat screen TV mounted to the wall, a black leather sectional and a black leather recliner. There was a built in fireplace within the wall as well. The floor was all grey tiles made to look like wood. The whole place was very clean and very modern looking. Clay made his way down the hallway to see that it had two bedrooms. He figured he would take the Master Bedroom, so he continued down the hallway until he found it. It was large, big enough for the king size bed to fit within the room and still look small. It had a wooden four post bed that looked like a king would sleep in it. There was also another TV mounted to the wall across from the bed and a dresser.

Clay tossed his duffle bag down onto the bed and made his way over to one of the two doors. He opened it to see a walk-in closet that a woman would love. The next door was the ensuite bathroom. This room was amazing. There was a tub big enough for four people to fit, and the shower stall had the same. The shower stall was all glass with marble white tiles with an accent of a rich blue tile. There were double sinks that were floating off of the counter it looked like. The whole place was amazing and Clay couldn't help but want to crawl into the bath right this very second. If he didn't have work he would have. Clay kept the laptop bag and continued on in his search around the home. He walked out into the backyard and saw that there was an outdoor kitchen and a complete patio set for both lounging and dining. There was also a hot tub big enough for ten people to fit. Clay had to admit, it was a really nice place that easily would cost three grand a month.

For the first time in his life Clay actually felt grateful towards Ash. When Ash had told him he could stay in one of his safe houses for free, Clay was expecting a rundown piece of shit that Ash was planning on renovating. He wasn't expecting something like this. Now it made sense why he wouldn't be getting a paycheque and just living here rent and utilities free. This place's mortgage would cost a pretty penny and as much as Clay would have liked the money instead. He knew it wouldn't have been that simple. He would have had to work and save up over the next two months to even afford first and last month's rent for an apartment. Then he would have had to find a place that would rent to him with his shitty credit now. It wouldn't have been simple. He wasn't getting paid for his work, but he did have a place to live right away and for that Clay was grateful. Now all he had to do was swallow his pride, what very little he had left if Clay was being honest, and do as Ash wanted so he could keep living here.

Clay headed back inside, as much as he would have liked to relax in his new place he had work to do. Tomorrow he was getting paid so he could go and get some groceries to hold him over for the next couple of weeks. Clay sat down on the couch and was not surprised that it was soft and comfortable. Clay took out the laptop and loaded it up. Once it was loaded he opened the work program and saw that there were ten translations that were due tomorrow. Some were recordings and others were documents.

"Seriously?"

Clay had no idea how Ash was going to be getting this all done tonight unless he wasn't planning on sleeping. At any rate, Clay wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon tonight. He was already exhausted and it was going to be a long night. Clay got up and headed into the kitchen, there was a coffee maker so he was hoping there was coffee. After looking through all of the cupboards, the fridge and even freezer, there was no coffee. There was nothing here that would keep Clay awake. Clay let out a sigh as he placed his hands down on the island. He needed something to keep him awake, but he had no idea what now.

Clay's mind automatically went back to the baggie in his duffle bag. Clay knew it was a bad idea. Drugs were never the answer, but at the same time he couldn't help but think about how awake he felt. How fast his mind was able to work without all of the background noise in his head. He was constantly using energy to battle all of the images that were flooding his mind. Every second of every day it was a mental battle that he was not always sure he would win. Except last night, last night he had won, but that was only because of the cocaine. It was like a sniper rifle for his mind. Clay had spent his life avoiding drugs for two reasons, one it could affect his career if he got caught with a dirty urine sample. Two, and most importantly, his mother was a heroin addict. Clay never wanted to end up like her.

Clay headed off into the bedroom and pulled out the baggie from his duffle bag. It was a lot of cocaine and this morning he told himself he would just find a spot to flush it and it would be done and over. Now all he could think about was making his mind quiet. It was only cocaine right? It was a party drug, not heroin. It wasn't that bad, more like marijuana. Clay went back into the kitchen and looked through the cupboards until he found a plastic straw. He grabbed some scissors from another drawer and cut the straw down so it was shorter. Clay then grabbed one of the black plates and placed it down on the island countertop. He poured some cocaine out onto the plate and then pulled out his wallet. He grabbed an old library card and divided up the cocaine into lines. Clay did two out of the five lines and instantly he could start to feel the effects from it. Clay sniffed a few times to make sure the powder was all the way up before he put the straw down on the plate and made his way over to the couch. Clay sat down and just sat back for a few moments and enjoyed the feeling. He could feel his mind shutting down the images that were playing in his head. One by one his mind was becoming more peaceful and Clay loved it.

After a minute Clay opened his eyes and he could feel himself wide awake now. Clay pulled out his cell phone and sent a quick text to Maddoc

Hey, I just wanted to see if you wanted me to learn some new languages so we can get more specialised missions.

Clay knew that if he had told Maddoc he was going to be learning new languages it wouldn't go over the same way. Maddoc wanted to be in control, he loved to be in control and feel like he had all of the power. Clay wasn't stupid, he knew that Maddoc was using him to get ahead in his career. Clay was fine with that, he wasn't the first person to do it either. Clay was very good at playing chess when everyone else was playing checkers and that is exactly what he was going to be doing with Maddoc.

Learn as many as you want. I appreciate the initiative rookie. You have my permission to learn as many as you want.

Clay couldn't help but smirk. It was just that easy.

Great thanks. I'll get signed up tomorrow for a new course. I can do it while we have downtime so it won't interfere.

Clay couldn't help the smirk that was on his face. Here he was sitting in a nicer apartment than he was living in before. He was making his own name for himself within the teams outside of Bravo and Jason's shadow. He was becoming a new man, and for the first time since all of this mess started to happen a month ago, Clay was feeling like he could do this. He could build a name for himself through Delta and he could come out of this stronger. It was a new life, a different life, but it was one that Clay was confident that he could make work. He would adapt to it and prove everyone wrong.

A/N: Ok I don't know how this chapter got to be so long, but it did. Remember to review! And to follow this story on AO3 if you want to get any of the naughty scenes in the later chapters. But again, you will get them here just a very clean version of them.