The day after the comeback from a deployment, the air at the base always tasted a bit different. That morning though, it hovered a sense of wait hard to describe.

Right outside the doors, Adam paced up and down while talking on his phone. He looked around suspiciously, as if the person he was talking to had to remain a secret, then nodded at himself. "Thanks, Ash. Keep me informed if you find out something. Yeah. I'll do," he added right before hanging up.

Jason spotted him entering the base and followed him inside. "Hey." He glanced back, cautiously. "Any news on the kid?"

Adam shook his head in resignation.

Jason grunted. "He's not answering my calls."

"Not just yours, I suspect," Adam said while they walked down the hall. "He didn't even tell his father."

They stood looking in each other's eyes while sailors passed by.

"He'll kill you for calling Ash, you know that?"

"Yeah, well, he'll kill you and Davis first for telling me."

"Don't worry about that," Davis popped out from behind them. "I don't think he really expected us to keep the secret for long."

Jason and Adam turned to her with expecting eyes.

"There's no change in Clay's mother's conditions," Davis added.

"You talked to him?"

"He called only to get a leave." They reached Bravo's cages' room, and she continued, "He's not coming to work today."

Adam stopped by the door. "This is not an easy situation, but we can't let him isolate."

Jason darted at him. "Of course not."

"Easier said than done," Davis retorted. "That's just what you team guys do all the time."

"We do what?" Ray approached them.

Adam's look shifted rapidly from Ray to Jason and then to Davis. "I have to go, keep me posted and I'll do the same."

"Posted on what, Jason?" Ray crossed his arms. "What are you guys up to?"

A hesitant silence hovered in the air as Ray followed Jason and Davis in the room. The change of atmosphere immediately got to Trent and Brock, who were cleaning up their cages still under the influence of the good vibe of the last deployment success.

"Is everything in order round here, boys?" Davis said. "You know, if you need some new toy, this is the perfect moment to ask for it."

"Don't change the subject, Lisa." Ray squinted at her.

"I'm just doing my job."

"I know, I know" —Sonny rushed in— "I'm late. Again—whoa, was there some kind of meeting I didn't' know about?"

"Jason was about to tell us what's going on here."

Trent and Brock got out from their cages, and Bravo all gathered around the table alongside Davis.

Sonny's eyes warily looked around. "Wait a minute, where's Clay? Is little Tinker Bell not coming today?"

Davis looked at Jason, who silently gave her permission to speak. "That's what I was telling Jason a minute ago. Clay took a license." She inspected the guys' reactions. "Probably will be out for a few days."

Ray shook his head. "I knew something was off with him."

"You're making me nervous." Sonny's palms hit the table. "What happened? Is it about Stella, or what else?"

"Not her." Once again, Jason's look met Davis's while he decided what to reveal. "It's his mother. Car crash. A bad one."

"How bad?" Ray spoke for all.

"All I know is that she successfully passed the night," Davis said. "But she's not out of the woods yet."

The silence echoed deep.

"That's not all." Ray peered at Davis insistently before gazing at Jason. "Am I wrong?"

The exchange of looks between Davis and Jason started getting on everyone's nerves, and the room became a powder keg waiting to explode.

"The circumstances of the crash are not clear," Davis finally said, causing the atmosphere to go from fiery to glacial.

. . .

Strong odor of bleach and deodorant worked its way through Clay's lungs while his eyelids fought with gravity. He had left that uncomfortable chair only once all night, and only because Stella insisted he stank and forced him to the bathroom. Although she was right on that and on many more things, Clay was too proud to ever admit it out loud.

Clay stretched the neck of his shirt. A clean shirt he would not have on now if it wasn't for Davis's concern. And yet, he had treated her rudely, both the day before and that morning on the phone. Clay was not the best in taking help, but which team guy was? But one thing he had to acknowledge, if it wasn't for his incredibly supportive friend and girlfriend, facing the night would have been ten times harder.

But now, Clay was alone. Davis offered to pass by, but he refused, not in a too kind way. And Stella had to go to work. Actually, he insisted she went to work; he couldn't let her pause her whole life for his mistakes.

Clay's eyes slowly closed only to pop back open when his head fell on its side. He should be used to not sleep for a night, so how could he be so tired? In all truth, he had not slept for three nights in a row already, not counting that one. His body and mind had both every reason to protest with him, but given the situation, that was not a good excuse for him.

The confused voice of the speaker broke the monotony of the beeping sound that filled the room. Clay wandered around to stretch his legs. Staring at his mother's motionless body was too hard, so he sought some comfort in the clear sky out the window.

"Why didn't you call me, son?"

Clay turned back with his hands instinctively closed in fists. "Dad?" Staring at the man in front of him, Clay swallowed, acknowledging a bad taste in his mouth. "What are you doing here? Who—" He snorted, his eyes shifting back to his mom. "I thought I was clear when I asked Stella to not call you."

Ash stretched out his arm, a cup of coffee in his hand. "Don't blame her." With his offer unaccepted, he turned his focus to his unconscious ex-wife.

The beeping of the monitors hammered Clay's skull. The sight of his father pretending to care about the situation was a perfect excuse to relieve his frustration. "I didn't even know you were in town."

"I was close enough when Adam Siever called me."

"Adam?" Clay snorted, rolling his eyes. "Davis…"

"What the hell happened here, son?"

"That's none of your business." Clay came nose-to-nose with his father. "You left her long ago, why are you interested in her all of a sudden?"

"Hey! Don't you dare talk to me like this ever again!"

The two stared at each other for a good moment; the persistent beeping noise in the background dictated the rhythm of their hearts.

"Sit down, Clay, and talk to me."

After a moment, Clay abandoned his body on the chair, completely out of strength. His tired eyes were glued to his mother's chest, rhythmically moved up and down by the respirator.

"I know you just got back from a deployment." Ash sat near him. "And I know you can't talk about it, but how long since you slept last?"

"It doesn't matter," Clay said in a resigned tone. "I need to be here when she wakes up. She can't be alone, not after… I don't—" he cleared his throat. "She needs me now."

Ash's loud sigh resounded in the room. "Look at me, Clay. This is not your fault."

Clay grimaced. "Whose is it then? Nolan's? Or maybe yours? Where were you when it all started, dad?"

"Stop right there, son! You don't know what you're talking about." Ash glanced at the bed. "Things started to go down long before you can even remember."

"You think I don't remember?" Trying to control his trembling hands, Clay took a deep breath to bring his tone back to a subtitle volume.

"I'm just saying you were too young to understand."

"Oh, no. I get it. She was broken, and you left her all alone to take care of your five-year-old son."

"That's not that simple, Clay," Ash glanced at the go-bag in the corner of the room. "I thought you would understand now. This job—"

"The job? Really?"

Ash got up, staring at his ex-wife, and without turning, he said, "I wasn't the only one who let you down back then. You should keep that in mind."

Clay looked at his pale mother. "Are you blaming her now?" He got up, too, making his father face him. "You think I don't remember all the times she let me have cereals for dinner because she was too tired to cook actual food for me? Or all the times she forgot to pick me up at the preschool, pretending to just be 'a little late'? And, oh, to not talk about the one time she forgot me at the supermarket! You think I can forget?"

Ash remained silent, eyes glued to his son.

"But at least she tried," Clay went on. "She tried hard, recovered, and took me back. What's your excuse, uh?"

"I'll let it go because you're shocked, but you're unfair to me."

Clay's hands scrunched in fists. "You should go. Just go, okay?"

Ash looked down, sighed, and exited the room while shaking his head.

Alone again, Clay put his full attention on his mom. "C'mon, open your eyes. Tell me this is all a big mistake. Tell me you didn't do this."

. . .

The sound of Jason's truck unlocking resounded in the deserted parking lot. He blinked at the reflex of sun reverberating on the windshield and looked up at the clear sky, glad that for once Bravo Team didn't have to deal with late hours.

"Hey!" Davis's voice interrupted Jason's thoughts. "Do you have a minute?" she asked, approaching him.

"What's wrong?"

"Just got a text from Stella. She's working late and worries to leave Clay alone at the hospital tonight, too."

"He's been there alone all day?"

Davis nodded. "I wanted to check on him, but I'm stuck here."

"What are we waiting for?" Sonny popped out from nowhere, drawing strict looks on him. "Come on, I'll behave. I promise."

"Alright. Let's go see our kid." Jason hopped in his truck and waited for Sonny to the same. In the rearview mirror, Davis's figure got smaller until disappearing, but her eyes full of concern were an image hard to wipe out of their minds.

A draught caught the two SEALs unprepared as soon as they stepped a foot in the hospital's parking lot. It was not just the evening falling; that place made them uncomfortable more than a dark room full of hostiles. They crossed their looks. It was for a brother, and for a brother, they would go to hell and back.

"Look what we have here, the famous Jason Hayes."

Jason halted in the middle of the hall, making Sonny almost bump on him. "Sonny, meet the legendary Ash Spenser."

While Sonny scanned him, Ash grinned, but then became all serious. "Here to check on my son?"

Jason nodded. "Shouldn't you be in there with him?"

"He kicked me out." In Ash's voice, frustration and hurt pride appeared stronger than actual concern.

Sonny side-eyed him. "And you let him do that?"

"He's too stubborn. And there was no point in arguing with him right now."

"But you're still here." Jason looked him straight, trying to imagine himself in Ash's boots.

Ash shrugged. "What can I say, I'm a caring man."

"Yeah…" Jason shook his head and motioned Sonny to resume walking.

"So that was him, uh?" Sonny followed Jason through the corridors, fatiguing to swallow the sanitizer's smell that pervaded his nostrils at every intake of breath. "I imagined him a little more—" he froze, getting in the sight of Clay's mother's room.

Leaned on the door frame with dark circles under his eyes there was Clay, surprisingly dismissive in his talk to some nurse.

"We need those documents, sir," she was telling him.

"I don't know where they can be."

"You need to find it out. Very soon." The nurse's tone sounded exactly like Davis's when they misplaced some important piece of equipment. "Without those documents, we can't keep your mother here, you understand?" In an attempt to soften the blow, she caressed Clay's arm, but he retracted immediately. "I'm sorry, but that's how it works."

Clay watched her getting away until his look laid on his teammates. He crossed his arms and stiffened in his pose. "What are you doing here?"

Jason and Sonny ignored Clay's question and moved forward, but Clay didn't move from the door. Even without stepping a foot inside the room, their brain took stock of the situation. What really hit the spot in their hearts was the atmosphere of sorrow hovering around their teammate.

Jason peered intently at his young man's void look. "What was that about?"

"Um, there's some insurance paper missing." Clay paused, glancing inside the room. "They, um, they can't keep her here if..."

"Damn bureaucracy!" Sonny stepped in, as usually too loud.

"I think she has them at home somewhere, but—" Clay continued fixing his mom without paying too much attention to his teammates' reactions. "I—I can't leave her alone…" he said under his breath.

Jason's lips pursed. "You knew your father was still here?"

"Is he?" Clay snorted. "Well, I can't send him to my mom's place. She would hate having him around rummaging through her stuff."

Jason and Sonny looked at each other. That coldness in Clay's voice was something they were not used to hearing.

"I know you two are on the rocks, but I'm sure that if you ask him to stay here with her, he will." Jason placed a hand on Clay's shoulder. "And we can drive you to your mom's apartment and back."

Clay cleared his throat, his eyes shifting from Jason to his unconscious mother.

"You need a break, Clay," Sonny insisted. "And those papers seem pretty important."

The voice of the speaker calling for some doctor's attention resonated with nurses footsteps at their back. A sense of expectation grew in Jason and Sonny while Clay shifted weight uneasily.

"Can you bring Ash back in?" Clay finally said, stepping inside the room to take his jacket.