A/N. Inspired by the song from Brett Young song Like I Loved You. I'm trying to come up with the reason that Sonny goes to Texas. I'm open to hear your suggestions if you have any! Thank you!***
Sonny had avoided her for a couple weeks now and Lisa felt there had been enough time for them to talk. She put on her workout clothes and headed over to the gym she knew he'd be there and it was a safe place to try and talk. Pulling in, his truck confirmed it. She sat in her SUV for a minute convincing herself this would go fine.
Walking into the gym she's greeted by Clay. "What's up Ensign Davis! What are you doing down here come to work out with us grunts? "Ah, No choice, steam rooms broken at the officers club" she says with a wink. She spots Sonny and walks over to him as he gets on the exercise bike. Hearing Clay talk to her Sonny puts on his earphones and pushes his hat down. He sees her out of the corner of his eye standing there. "Hey Sonny" she smiles. He peddles faster and louder refusing to look up. Lisa stands there and takes a breath. "Is he serious?" she thinks to herself. Sonny gets up avoiding looking at her at all and walks the opposite way. Lisa bites her lip as she works on controlling her emotion. He's very obviously still mad. She tried to tell him before that she was hurting too but it didn't seem to make a difference to him.
Sonny walked out of the gym and got in his truck. He didn't blame Davis. He blamed himself for opening up to her and being so vulnerable. The wounds were still too fresh though and he just couldn't handle talking right now. He realized he acted like a twelve-year-old, but at least he didn't use hurtful words.
During the briefing Sonny avoided making any eye contact, which wasn't unusual since they had broken up but this was the first time she tried. She felt like she had broken him and she didn't know how to fix it.
Lisa sat in command and listened via coms as the guys were in the middle of their mission to rescue a pilot whose plane had gone down. The boys were taking fire and they were trying to figure out how to get them out. "Havoc, We've lost Bravo 3" she looked at Blackburn. He responded "Bravo 1, say again your last" they waited and through a broken up connection she heard again "Taking heavy fire, Bravo 3 cut off. Sonny cut off" her heart sank and she did her best to keep emotion in check.
"They need backup" she told Blackburn firmly. "We could send the one one" she offered. "We can't step foot across their border" Blackburn replied. "What about air support?" she asked "Not a chance, we cannot engage inside Iran" Blackburn "maybe a little show of force" he finished explaining they would play dumb and say the pilots didn't realize it. They sat and waited to find out if their plan would work and if the rest of the team would get back to Sonny.
She waited to hear the results for what felt like forever. "Havoc, this is Bravo 1, we have Bravo 3." She was finally able to exhale as Blackburn gave her a high five. While the boys traveled home, command finished up their mission notes and she headed home for a shower.
He almost died. Sonny almost died. Their last conversation not even a conversation and he almost died. She got dressed and got into her car.
As the team exited the plane, Blackburn was there to greet them. Sonny glanced around surprised Davis wasn't there too. "Really?" he thought as he shook his head. "Hey Sonny wanna grab a beer?" Trent asked picking up his bag. "Nah, thanks I think I'm going to head home and lay low from the excitement" he responded laughing. In the back of his mind he knew Davis would call or come over and after his close call he wanted nothing more than to see her.
An half hour passed with Sonny sitting on the couch flipping channels. Suddenly he heard a fierce banging on his door. He chuckled as he waited a couple seconds remembering when it was him knocking on her door. "Mother Mary I've got neighbors man..What the hell?!" he responded as he went to the door. "Play it cool Quinn" he thought putting his hand on the door knob. He opened the door just enough resting his shoulder against it. He wasn't just going to invite her in. "Davis what the hell are you doing here?" "You almost got yourself killed" she answered. "Well, not exactly" he played the situation down. "Yes, that is exactly what happened" she replied mad. They heard someone banging on a wall as if to tell them to quiet down. "I told you I have neighbors" Sonny explained taking a sip of his beer but not fully opening the door as Davis looked down the hall. "I don't care about your neighbors. I care that you almost died." He looked at her and shrugged as if it were nothing. "I'm ok" he told her as she stared. "I'm fine" he tried again to reassure as he felt a little bad seeing she was obviously bothered by it.
"I can't believe you would scare me like that. You are such a jackass Sonny" she told him as she tried to not kiss him. His stance softened. "Well this Jackass is ok" he told her. "Really?" she asked. "See I knew you were going to be upset" he told her as he relaxed in front of the door letting his guard down some. "You're right, I am" she agreed. "Don't do it again" she told him as she moved a little closer to the door. "Cross my heart" he replied as they looked in each others eyes. She leaned her back on the door jam, "you know, just because we ended, doesn't mean I stopped loving you" she told him as she moved inside the door. "Yeah? Life's a bitch isn't it" he said as he shut the door and kissed her. As soon as their lips touched it felt as if fireworks were going off. Lisa wrapped her arms around his neck as his hands moved down her back to her butt where he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her hands feverishly unbuttoning his shirt as he carried her to the bed.
Since the moment, he was separated from the team and taking fire, this was the moment that had been in his mind. He joked with the pilot that it was the best first date ever but he wanted nothing more than to go home to Lisa.
Lisa laid in his arms, relieved that he was safe and for the first time in weeks she felt safe and relaxed not fully realizing the toll this had taken on her until now when it felt lifted. The next morning they woke up and laid there for a few minutes not saying anything. "I guess I better go, I have to be in to command" she said drawing circles on his chest with her finger. Sonny let out a deep breath. "On to the grind" he laughed. "I'm glad you're ok" she looked up at him smiling. She was making him melt again, pure putty. So much for the tough Texan persona. He smiled and kissed her forehead "You know what they say" he paused "you don't mess with Texas" he finished with a macho shrug. Lisa rolled her eyes and smacked his chest playfully. She grabbed her clothes from the night before and put them on. "I'll see you later cowboy" she smiled as she headed out the door. He wanted to walk her to her car, or at least out, but last night was about closure and if he did that it would show his weakness and he was already too vulnerable with her.
Now when they passed each other during the day he didn't look away or ignore her. He'd nod, "Ensign Davis" and she would smile "Petty Officer." It still hurt, but he knew at some point he had to let go. He could never forgive himself if he ruined her career. Lisa was relieved to feel like she had her friend back. She had talked to Ronnie a lot over the last few weeks and was planning to go out to see her for a few days. It wasn't the same though. She hadn't lived the same life that Davis and Sonny had.
Davis decided to go get a drink at the Bulkhead hoping to be able to talk to Sonny before she left. The boys were at the bar having a drink when he spotted her at a high top. "Howdy, fancy seeing you here" he smiled. "Howdy" she replied back happy that he came to talk.
"So, 4 day weekend starts tomorrow. I'm going to see my sister in New Jersey" she shared.
"Oh," he said surprised "nice". "Yeah" she agreed as she stopped herself from reaching across the table. "That's good you guys are talking" he said nodding "trying to patch things up" he finished. "A little bit" she replied. "Work is rough, need to vent, Ronnie is a good listener" she explained. "It's always good to have something like that" he told her looking down briefly thinking about how she was that for him in the past. "You know, I was thinking, maybe I could just push my trip a day and you and I could hang out?" "Mmm" Sonny nodded almost choking on his beer " " he held the drink up to his mouth trying his best not to react. "old times, friends" she said happily thinking that now they could. "Friends, of course" he replied. "yeah you know like… the way it used to be" she explained smiling.
Part of him wanted to ask if she was serious, but she was smiling and it had been so long since she looked happy he couldn't. He did however realize in this moment that maybe they were on different pages. It seemed like she was ok with how it all went down and that they could still be friends. He wanted to tell her "if you really think we can go back to old times and friends…I guess you didn't love me like I loved you" but he couldn't just come out and say that.
"Yeah, the way it used to be, of course" he nodded. "It was good stuff" she replied. "Yeah, it was" he agreed trying to figure out how to nicely explain that he couldn't. "It's just hard to go back to, uh, just friends, when the good times, when a decent portion of those had been moved to the bedroom." "Those were fun times too" she smiled. Sonny looked down and shook his head, "Listen, Lisa, you were right to end this" he said looking up. The smile faded from her face as he continued "there ain't no way for us to be all in while we're both on Bravo, you know and I just, uh.. I just don't want to fool with anything less. Not with you anway" he explained. She forced herself not to allow her facial expression to give her away. Her heart sank at the reminder that it was her choice to end it after all. "Yeah, hey it was a crazy idea" she replied. "Yeah, well have yourself a good weekend" he told her as he got up from the table. "Thank You" she smiled. He started to walk away but then turned "You know, just because we're done, doesn't mean you can't hang with the team. Do some shots" he offered. He didn't want her to feel alone, the thought of that was too much. She smiled in reply. "See ya" he said as he turned to walk away. "See ya" she replied as she noticed Ray glance over their way. Suddenly all of her defenses went up like giant walls. The smile faded, and she sat for a minute angry that Ray seemed to be some sort of hall monitor. She'd love nothing more than to go over and ask him what he was looking at but that would unravel it all. "If Jason killed someone Ray would hide the body but let Sonny and I find some happiness and the world will end" she thought taking a last sip of her beer.
Getting up to leave Clay walks by "What's up, where you going? Officers club poppin off two for one champagne shooters? He joked. "I wouldn't know, you know it's not my scene" she replied smiling. "I know, your scene is right here with us" he looked over towards the bar where the team was. "It's been forever since we've hung out" he continued. "Things change" she replied. "What because you're an officer now?" he asked "Blackburn's an officer" he pushed not understanding why she was so distant. "It's not the same. You know that" she explained to him. "It's also not the same with you not around" he replied genuinely. "Nothings the same. I get it, I know" she told him feeling frustrated that nothing was the same and for some reason everyone was pointing it out to her. She forced a smile. "I'll see you later sucka" she tapped Clay on the arm before he walked off. She looked around before heading out remembering the multitude of times they hung out and had fun there. Once again questioning her decision to take this path.
She got into the car and wiped a tear that escaped her eye. There was a part of her that expected Sonny to be on board with hanging out and being friends. Everything had changed and it did not feel like it was for the better. She was alone and miserable.
Sonny sat at the bar taking shots with the team. Maybe he should call her. Maybe just this once he considered as he started feeling tipsy. "No" he sat his hands down on the bar. Jason looked over "no what?" Sonny was jolted out of his thoughts "uh, no. I cannot drive home" he laughed.
Lisa met Ronnie at a diner. It was awkward, and Lisa tried her best to give this a try anyway. She didn't have Sonny anymore and Ronnie was her sibling who shared some of her life's baggage. "I'm glad you're here Lisa" Ronnie told her. "Me too" Lisa replied still feeling the uncomfortableness in the air. "Lisa, I have to ask, is everything ok?" Ronnie finally mustered up the nerve to ask. "What do you mean?" Lisa ask confused "Are you happy?" Ronnie asked. "Why?" Lisa wasn't sure if she was that obvious or if this was going somewhere else. "You've been reaching out a lot the past few months" Ronnie explained. Lisa's body tensed up and she sat back a little further. "It's nice, but I can't help but wonder if somethings going on" Ronnie finished. "Like what" Lisa asked a little more defensively than she meant to. "It just feels like you're looking for someone to lean on. A family. And we can be that for you" Ronnie tried to tell her before Lisa interrupted "I'm not looking for anything, ok? I'm fine" she said coldly. "Ok, I didn't mean anything" Ronnie trailed off. "I said I'm fine" Lisa said firmly. "It's been a long ride up here and I'm tired. And um you've got to get back home to take care of everybody" Lisa said throwing an emotional punch. Once the words left her mouth she regretted them.
"Ok" Ronnie said getting up. "I'll call you tomorrow" Lisa said as Ronnie walked by.
"Why can't I just…ugh" Lisa fell back on the bed. She had seen a bar around the corner and decided to go and hang out there instead of sitting in her hotel room staring at the ceiling and thinking about Sonny.
She sat at the bar, minding her own business. It wasn't busy so she sat watching the tv. A guy came over "Had a nice pace going. Why slow down now?" he asked. She tried to ignore him but he wasn't going anywhere. "I'm not looking to chat" she replied looking back at the tv. "You sure about that? He asked "Very" she replied flatly. "Out alone, late, tossing them back. Pretty sure you're looking for something. Doesn't need to be any chatting involved" he continued. "I'm serious. Just leave me alone." She said annoyed. "Pauly" he called over to the guy a few stools down "give her a swig of yours" then looked at Lisa "if you don't like it, just try it until you do." "Just get out of my face" she told them annoyed. "Just take a sip" Pauly offered holding the bottle up. "I said no ok" she replied hitting the bottle causing it to go over the bar and break. The first guy grabbed her arm "What the hell's wrong with you, you need to relax" she stood up and pushed him. "I said get off of me." Suddenly there was another hand on her shoulder and she thought it was the friend so as she turned she threw a punch. "That was very stupid Miss" the man replied as she noticed his badge and he pushed her towards the bar to handcuff her. "He started it" she explained. "You hit an officer" he replied as he led her to his squad car. "This is unbelievable" Lisa thought to herself as she bit her lip to prevent herself from crying. "Everything is changing" is all she could think. Lisa sat in her cell waiting to be released. She had a call but there was no one to call. No one. She got herself into this now she alone had to get herself out.
She left after she was released and never called Ronnie. She got back to work and threw herself in waiting to see if it all hit the fan. Mandy stopped by her office and could tell there was a problem. "You wanna talk?" "I'm fine" Lisa replied. "I get isolating yourself from the guys but I'm on the list too?" Mandy asked a little hurt. "I can't talk to you or anyone at command about this" Lisa explained. "I'm not technically part of command" Mandy offered. "I can't." Lisa replied firmly. "Ok, if you change your mind though" Mandy shrugged.
Clay invited his new girlfriend to come and meet the guys at the Bulkhead. Sonny explained that she had rendered his wingman useless so he had to find a new one. Truth be told, Sonny was in retreat mode from anyone close and that meant Clay was next to get pushed away. Sonny nominated Vic to be his wingman as Clay explained why Vic isn't skilled enough Sonny ignored it and pressed on.
The next morning Clay was about to enter the briefing room when Sonny came around. "You look well rested" Clay told him. "Is that because Vic discharged his duties or laid a turd?" Sonny laughed "He laid a turd but I managed to bag an HVT because Sonny is too sexy to fail" he joked. As Sonny finished his statement Lisa came around the corner and Clay noticed her reaction to Sonny's news. Normally she would have made a sarcastic remark or rolled her eyes. This time though, she looked hurt. Sonny saw her out of the corner of his eye and immediately felt like an idiot. He went home right after Clay did but refused to admit defeat.
"Hey we missed you last night, where were ya?" Clay asked Lisa as she put her phone in a box. "Work" she said with a forced smile as she went inside.
Lisa went into the briefing for the team's mission and as she was explaining the door opened. "Ensign Davis, Command needs to see you." There is was, hitting the fan. Blackburn looked at Lisa unsure of what was going on. The guys looked at each other confused. Blackburn finished the briefing.
Lisa was called in front of the board. They advised her she had been accused of a crime against a local officer. She looked stone faced, straight ahead. Blackburn was on the board and watched her confused at her sabotage. They advised her the case would be reviewed and they would decide if she would be court marshalled. "Do you understand why you are here?" they asked. "Yes sir" she replied. "Ensign Davis please relax." Blackburn advised. "According to the New Jersey police you were a patron of an establishment called the Down Bound Lounge on November 11th. Is that correct?" "Yes sir" she relied. "Did you consume alcohol?" he aksed "Yes sir I did" she replied. "How many drinks did you have?" "Two shots and one beer sir"
"Were you intoxicated?" "The breathalyzer put me at .06 sir" "So you were legally sober when you struck the New Jersey officer" "I have no excuse for my actions," she answered before he interrupted. "We're not looking for an excuse at this point. Just a reason"
Lisa stood there. They advised her case would be moved to an executive officers inquiry. "Yes sir" Lisa said before leaving. Blackburn watcher her head out the door. He knew this had been a big change for her and that it had been difficult. She was a perfectionist and that is impossible with this job.
On the plane, Sonny badgered Vic even giving him a nickname of "Vicky Mouse" as he explained that he just needed some training. Clay commented but Sonny didn't thow his usual banter or nicknames with him causing Clay to feel left out. "No Nick Carter, blonde backstreet boy?"
"No you went over to the dark side so what I'm going to do is focus on Padi-won-Vic here and teach him the wisdom of someone fully committed to the jedi lifestyle." "Are you referring to Rebecca as Darth Vader?" Clay asked. "No, I'm just saying you wouldn't have popped off before you met her. I just need to know the guy next to me has his head in the game." Sonny answered.
He contacted Jason to update the team and let them know the status. He also wanted to find out if Sonny knew anything. Jason explained what happened "she got clipped a couple weeks ago. Public intoxication, assaulting an officer" and then looked at Sonny "I figure her last phone call was to you Sonny" Sonny looked "This is the first I'm hearing of it. The officer probably asked for it. What I don't understand is why Blackburn didn't speak up in her defense and put an end to it." "He was probably blindsided like us" Clay replied. The guys decided they needed to get the op done and get back so they could speak on her behalf.
Sonny felt responsible. If he hadn't told her they couldn't work as friends maybe he could have fixed this for her. He was quiet for the rest of the flight.
Standing outside the fence of the building Jason instructed Clay and Sonny to hold with the heavy gear until entry was made. Clay took the opportunity to talk to Sonny. "What is happening with Davis sucks but it's not your fault." "Why would it be my fault?" Sonny asked playing dumb. "I'm not stupid" Clay replied, "her reaction to you hooking up with some chick last night, you never telling us your girls name, her job change having an impact on you guys relationship. Sonny it's Davis" "It's all in the past now" Sonny replied wishing deep down he could just spill it all right now. Clay stopped and looked at Sonny "we can talk about it later, but right now I need to know the guy standing next to me has his head in the game" Sonny looked at Clay, now wanting to punch him for turning around their earlier conversation. "Laser focus. Just like you princess" Sonny replied including a nickname for good measure.
Blackburn found Lisa and asked her why she was sabotaging herself. He knew her potential and was furious that she wasn't defending her actions. Blackburn knew she had reasons for what she did and based on her character they were good ones.
Lisa prepared to go in front of the review board. She had royally screwed this up, and Blackburn being angry with her seemed to add the exclamation point. She stood in an empty briefing room.
"Yes, it was a mistake not to tell command about the incident; I believe I have learned my lesson. I understand that my behavior outside of work reflects on my character as a naval officer." She stood there and paused. "Is there anything command should learn from me rather than an outside source?" she asked as her throat begin to burn from trying to hold back her emotions. "I was in a relationship with a member of my unit. We took great pains to keep it a secret because we were in love but it was a violation of the fraternization rules." She held her breath in an attempt to hold back the tears from falling. She turned to prepare to go in. Walking inside she stood and waited.
"We'd like to make a statement on behalf of Davis" Jason told Blackburn. The board agreed they could enter. Ray stayed outside in fear of what this could do to his chances of being a warrant officer although he is the one that initially pushed for them to get back for this. Lisa stood as Bravo walked in to speak on her character. Sonny explained that her life had been a "series of tough calls but she ain't ever made a bad one. She puts the Navy first. Ahead of herself. Ahead of her own happiness. If that ain't character I don't know what is."
"Ensign Davis appears to be lucky to have Bravo Team on her side" "we're luck to have her" Jason replied. As the team exited Davis looked at Jason "You didn't have to do that." "You're one of us. Family. We've always got your back."
Lisa was thankful to feel part of the pack and that Bravo had her back even though things had changed. It was a reminder she desperately needed. They met at the bar that night to celebrate.
"Thank you for what you said in there" she told Sonny with a smile. "I meant every word" he smiled. It was his way of letting her know that even though they cannot go back to the friends they were, he understood her choices. She stood there for a second longer wanting to be with him, but knowing she could not.
Sonny sat at the bar wishing things were different. He thought she was the one. He had hit the jackpot and understood why people bother settling down. Maybe it wasn't meant for him. He was a lone wolf who had mastered being there for other people when they needed it but pushing people away when he was the one that needed help.