Davis stared up into the cold, dark eyes of the masked assailant standing over her. She lay motionless on the floor, one arm pinned beneath a large combat boot, prohibiting her from reaching for her weapon. Time seemed to stop as she waited for the VSP member to make his move and end her life right there in what was supposed to be a safe house. So much for that. She was going to die in this place.

The Intel Officer side of Ensign Davis was rapidly processing every piece of information she and Mandy collected during their time in Venezuela. Did she screw up? Was the intel bad? Did Mandy's CI flip on them, willingly or forcefully? Nothing in the intel seemed out of place or suspicious, but this was a coordinated attack and she knew the rest if the team wouldn't make it out alive if she didn't figure out what went wrong.

The other side of Lisa Davis was seeing her life flash before eyes. As far back as she could remember to just seconds before a sudden impact knocked her temporarily unconscious. She saw her sisters, her mom, the fire, her high school graduation, the day she enlisted in the Navy, the unforgettable day that she met Sonny Quinn for the first time, and the unforgettable day where she broke his heart. 'Sonny's going to be so pissed', Davis thought to herself as she shifted her focus to the barrel of the rifle pointing her way, realizing that it would be last thing she ever saw.

The tightening her chest ripped Davis from her sleep as she sat straight up in her bed in a panic. Her heart was racing, and she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her sweat-soaked body. Lisa grabbed at her chest, clinching the fabric of her damp t-shirt in her fingers, as she tried to calm her heavy breathing. It was the same routine she had done just about every night since the team returned from Caracas two weeks ago. The attacks were getting worse and more difficult to get under control as time passed. Davis knew that seeing a Navy doctor would be her last resort. The last thing she needed was an official diagnosis of panics attacks or PTSD added to the arrest and disciplinary hearing already in her file. Something needed to change, though, the physical signs of her sleepless nights were starting to show.

As she continued to get her heart rate and breathing back under control, Lisa thought back to a brief encounter with Sonny a few days ago on base. She'd been spending extra time in the Ops Center, double and triple checking every piece of info that came through, making sure that what happened in Caracas never happened again. He pulled Davis aside the first chance he found to get her alone and urged her to tell him what was going on.

He was clearly worried, and she tried not to notice the pain in his eyes, but she kept her guard up. "I'm fine, Sonny. Really." She thought it sounded convincing enough.

"Davis, c'mon, you don't have to talk to me, but...", he paused and pulled back the hand that was reaching for her, knowing that anyone could walk by and see them. "I'm here, if you want me to be."

She nodded, acknowledging his offer, but having no intention of accepting it, and turned to walk away.

Lisa drifted back to the present, a faint image of Sonny's concerned face still lingered in the back of her mind. Her pulse was beginning to steady now and her breathing had regulated. Davis settled back in the bed hoping to get at least an hour or two of sleep before her alarm went but knowing deep down that she'd be lucky if she fell asleep at all.

The next 36 hours were chaotic. Davis picked up a hot piece of intel on a high-value target and got Bravo a quick green light for an assault. Their time window was minimal, so it was one of those 'quick and dirty' type ops that Sonny seemed to prefer. Despite the recent lack of sleep, Davis was still on point in the TOC, taking control as needed and assisting the team with their mission success. Nothing Bravo did was ever as easy as they plan for, but the HVT was in custody and no one was seriously injured. It was win. She watched the C-17 touch down and the guys make their way off the plane and onto the tarmac. Davis let out a sigh of relief. They were all home safe, this time.

"Go home, Davis." Blackburn shouted over the rumble of engines as he walked up behind her.

Lisa smiled politely at her CO, "I've got a lot to finish up and new intel coming in..."

"It can wait." Blackburn insisted.

"But, Sir..." Davis tried to argue, but was abruptly cut off.

"You did good here, Ensign, but it's been a long two days. Go get some sleep and we'll start it all over tomorrow."

The Lieutenant Commander turned to walk away before Davis could speak up again. Before entering the building, he glanced back to see that she hadn't moved from where he'd left her.

"That was an order, Davis." He yelled matter-of-factly, before disappearing through the glass door.

Lisa dreaded the idea of being home alone again with just the memories of Caracas. She thought about returning to the Ops Center instead, but she knew that Blackburn would have contingencies in place if she tried to go back into work tonight. Staying busy on base kept her focused on the tasks at hand and didn't allow her mind to think about what could have happened that night.

She decided to hit the gym before grabbing some take-out and finally heading to her empty apartment. After dinner, a long shower, and a beer, anything to stall actually trying to go sleep, Lisa knew she couldn't fight it any longer and crawled into bed. She was a little relieved to find that the exhaustion, coupled with 40% alcohol, had caught up to her and she was getting tired quickly. Perhaps the less time she had to think about it before falling asleep the less intrusive the nightmares would be. Davis yawned one final time, flipped off the light on her nightstand and drifted to sleep.

The crushing pain hit Davis like a ton of bricks sitting on her chest. It was happening again. She hollered out in fear as her eyes darted open, trying to focus on something that would snap her out of the nightmare, but she was greeted only by darkness. Davis tried unsuccessfully to sit up in the bed, as she gasped for breath, continuing to fight off the invisible weight detaining her. She felt paralyzed. The attacks altered her sense to the point where she couldn't tell what was real or just in her head. The walls surrounding her moved as if they were closing in, and she could feel the blood pumping through her entire body to the rhythm of her rapid heartbeat. The moisture on her cheek let Davis know that tears had begun to fall, though she had hadn't realized she'd begun to cry.

Despite everything inside of her screaming the opposite, Davis knew that she needed help. It could have been minutes that passed, or hours, that she laid there motionless, waiting for the attack to pass. Lisa felt herself shiver as the cool air blowing in the room mixed with her damp clothing. It was a good sign. She tried to sit up again, regaining some feeling in her extremities. Her heart was still racing, but her breathing was returning to normal. She wrapped herself in the down comforter, wiped away the last few tears and reached for her phone on the nightstand.

Lisa opened the contact in her phone and clicked the ICE at the top of the list. Even after their breakup and the recent tension between them, she never thought to remove Sonny as her emergency contact. She glanced at the time, 2:40am; he should be awake. Still shaking and unsteady she slowly began to type.

'Does your offer still stand?' SEND.

The text notification chime sounded less than a minute later. It was almost deafening to her still sensitive ears, but also the best sound she could have hoped for in that moment. She tapped the 'New Message' box on the screen and read the reply.

'be right there'

She heard the knock on her front door a short time later and carefully climbed out of bed. Her knees slightly buckled under her petite frame and she caught herself on the edge of the bed. Davis took a deep breath and closed her eyes, frustrated with how weak she was. She hated this feeling. The amount of energy exerted from her panic attacks was overwhelming. She never would have guessed that something like these episodes would cause such a physical and emotional hangover.

As Davis made her way to the door, she stopped as she heard a key slide through the lock and turn, removing the deadbolt from the strike plate and allowing the door to open. If there had been worry over someone other than him coming into her apartment at 3am, she would have reached for the handgun she kept hidden nearby. Instead, she watched and waited for the door to move and Sonny Quinn to step through it.

He paused when he saw her standing across the room, unsure as to how she would react to him just barging in. "Hey. Sorry. I knocked, but... You okay?" His apology suddenly turned to concern when he noticed how pale and fatigued Lisa looked. Sonny closed and locked and the door behind him and darted to Davis' side. He gave her a quick once over as he approached, looking for any obvious signs of injury, thankful not to find anything more than the small cut on her temple left behind from Caracas.

"You're shivering," he said, as he placed a gentle hand on Lisa arm. Sonny rubbed the pad of his thumb over the olive skin of Davis' arm, feeling the course flesh as another chill brushed over her. "First things first; Let's get you warmed up," he said, using his free hand to motion towards the bedroom. She took the advice and turned to walk down the hall. Sonny stayed as close to her as possible, just in case, as their way to the bedroom. He watched as Lisa crawled into bed and pulled the down comforter up to her chin. Sonny grabbed a chair from the corner of the room, slid it next the bed and took a seat facing her. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

Davis nodded and took a deep breath. She wasn't comfortable opening up to anyone, but Sonny had a way of putting her tensions at ease and talking to him was anything but uncomfortable. "I'm scared," she finally admitted. It had been months since they had a real conversation, but the moment those words left her lips, she felt herself letting him back in and it was as if that time apart never happened. "Every time I close my eyes, I see him... standing over me... ready to kill me. How do you do this? How do you push past that fear and move on?"

This was one of Sonny least favorite topics. While he also struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Davis was fully aware of it, it wasn't a conversation he thought the two of them would ever have. PTSD was one of those taboo things that you couldn't admit to in the military for fear of being pulled from duty, so you just had to suck it up and move on, praying that your attempts to push it away work before the fear consumes you.

"There ain't no right or wrong way to do it," he began, leaning forward and propping his elbows on the edge of the bed. "You know as well as anybody that anger, and alcohol are my relief."

Davis rolled her eyes and smirked. She knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but also being completely honest. She'd picked Sonny up from bars after hours more times than she could remember. At first, she thought it was just the way he was, but soon realized that this was just a coping mechanism.

"You never had these nightmares when we were together."

"I... umm...," Sonny fumbled over his words, unsure of the best way to reply. She wasn't wrong. During their ten months together he had not had any issues with his PTSD. Being with Davis seemed to put Sonny's mind at ease. He removed his hat, just long enough to run a hand through the unusually thick, brown curls. "I guess I never had a reason to feel scared when I was with you."

Davis averted her eyes from Sonny's gaze, "Oh...," she said, barely audible, quickly regretting bringing up their relationship. She knew he was still hurting over it even though he may not admit that. He wasn't alone, though, thinking back on what they had caused her pain to resurface, too.

Trying not to dwell on the past and knowing that it certainly what Davis needed right now, Sonny perked up and chimed back in, "Tell you what. Try this. Instead of bein' worried about going to sleep, maybe think about somethin' that makes you happy now. They say you're more likely to dream about the last thing you think of before goin' to sleep. So, if you focus on the good, the bad might just stay away."

It sounded too easy, Davis thought, but what choice did she have? "You really think that'll work?" she asked.

"Only one way to find out," he grinned and raised eyebrow at her. He had firsthand knowledge of what Davis was going through and really didn't think it would be that easy, but he did know that she needed some rest, even just a little, so it was worth a shot. "I'll crash on the couch" he paused and motioned down the hall towards the living room, "and, if those demons of yours do try to come back, I, your knight in shining camo, will rush in to save you. Deal?"

She didn't respond, just stared absentmindedly across the room, still unsure if trying to sleep again right now was the best idea. As Sonny stood from his bedside chair, preparing to leaving the room, the sudden movement jostled Davis from her thoughts. She reached out and grabbed Sonny's hand as he turned to walk away.

"Stay." Lisa was caught off guard by the statement as he was. "I mean, in the chair, if you could?"

Sonny gave her hand a light squeeze and sat back down in the chair beside her. He kicked off his boots and propped his feet on the end of the bed, trying unsuccessfully to make himself comfortable in the small, wooden armchair. He flicked off the bedside lamp with his free hand, never letting hers go with the other, and reclined his head to rest on the back of the chair. He stayed awake until he felt her hand go limp in his and heard her even breathing indicating that she had fallen asleep, before he, too, drifted off.

A few hours passed and Sonny had woken up several times throughout the night, mostly to re-position himself as multiple body parts had gone numb from lack of blood flow, but also to make sure Davis was still sleeping. This time was different, he didn't wake up on his own. The tight grip on his hand is what woke Sonny. He sat up, blinking rapidly to clear his eyes and focus on Davis who was having another nightmare. She was asleep, but lightly tossing and breathing heavily.

Sonny slid from the chair to the edge of the bed, closer to Davis. He softly stroked her hair and cheek trying to calm her down without actually waking her up. It seemed to be working. After a few minutes her breathing regulated and she rolled to her side, back to Sonny, settling into the bed, still holding his hand. He tried to maneuver his way back to the chair, but she had moved too far from the edge of the bed for him to reach the chair and Davis' hand and he wasn't letting go. Taking the chance that she wouldn't get mad at him, Sonny leaned over to lay in the bed, on top of the comforter, with his armed draped over her.

The remainder of the night was uneventful, Davis slept more than she had the past two weeks. The blaring alarm going off actually woke her up this time instead of her watching the clock tick down, waiting for the buzzer to start. A brief moment of panic crossed over Davis as she felt warmth of the large framed body pressed up against hers, followed by the calloused fingers interlocked with her own. The events of the evening starting flooding back to her at once as she turned her head, realizing who was in her bed. She carefully leaned into his embrace, soaking in this unexpected moment with him as long as possible.

Sonny startled at the movement and sat up in the bed, scanning the room to find out what was going on. Davis was awake and he was not supposed to be there, "I'm sorry...," he began, jumping up and grabbing a boot off the floor. "You had another nightmare and I just wanted to help. I shouldn't have..." His voice trailed, unsure if he was making sense or if Davis would have any recollection of this alleged nightmare to corroborate his story. He slipped on one boot with ease, but in a rush to stand up and leave, while putting the second boot on Sonny lost his footing and stumbled across the room, nearly running into door frame.

"I'm gonna go...," he said, making a hitching motion with his thumb aimed towards the front of the apartment. He did a full 360 turn as he collected himself and headed down the hallway.

It happened in such a rush, that between the still limited amount of sleep and euphoric feeling Davis had waking up next to him, she was unable to speak as this all unfolded before her. One second she was spooned up against him reliving a past sensation that she never thought she would experience again, the next she was half-grinning at the sight of him awkwardly bouncing around her room on one foot and then suddenly he was gone. Lisa laid there in silence for a moment gathering her thoughts and missing the feel of him beside her.

Davis spent most of the day in the Ops Center prepping for the Team's upcoming deployment to Jalalabad, Afghanistan. They weren't leaving for J-bad for a few more weeks, but months of planning went into each deployment and Davis was collaborating on a target package with her Intel counterpart currently in country. Bravo Team would be ready to start kicking down doors as soon as they landed, so she wanted to make sure she had something ready for them. Overall, it was lite day of paperwork and starting at computer monitor. The work was beyond important, but Davis was glad when she able to wrap up for the day.

Per her usual routine, Lisa went by the gym for about an hour before going home to her empty apartment with a soggy to-go salad. She stood next to the island in her kitchen an ate in silence while thinking back on the night before. There was never any doubt in her mind, even after their break-up, that Sonny would come through for her when she needed him. His family, the team, they meant everything to him, and she was still apart of that family. Lisa pulled her cell phone from her pocket, opened the contact labeled 'Sonny' and selected the 'Text' option. Sonny wasn't one for long winded texts, so after writing, erasing, and re-writing a message to him a dozen times settled on the simplest thing she came up with:

'Thank you.' SEND

It wasn't close to enough for what he did to help her last night, but, if he chose to reply, she figured that could elaborate on her appreciation later. A few minutes went by before she heard the text alert chime indicating a new message. She opened it:

'for sleeping with you? anytime'

She couldn't help but laugh and roll her eyes at the response, knowing that Sonny was on the other end of the with a cocky grin on his face. He could make her laugh at anything, appropriate or not, he just had that way about him. It was one of the first things she fell in love with, actually, his ability to make her smile. She never did that much before she met him and, thinking about it now, she realized how little she'd that since their breakup. Davis hit the REPLY button.

'That, too, but really, though, I'm glad you were there.' SEND

'i'll always be here' he replied.

'Promise? I want this to work, you and me.' SEND

Davis knew that it was hard thing to ask someone, to expect something like that from another person. She also knew that Sonny wasn't lacking in the companionship department, he didn't need to wait around for her, he deserved to live his life his own way without her holding him back. Lisa instantly regretted sending the message and a twinge of paint shot through her as the phone chimed. She paused for a moment before opening, preparing for a response like the one he gave in the bar a few months back, before she went to see her sister. Her finger slid across the screen opening the message:

'i'll wait'

They would figure this out together. One day.

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.

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A/N: Thanks for reading and feedback is appreciated!

I really wanted Sonny to call himself 'Dr. Quinn Medicine Man' at some point in this story, but it didn't end up happening.