**A/N. here we go :). Feedback is always much appreciated :) ***********************
"Hey man, wanna go hit the gym?" Clay asked sitting his bag down in his cage. "Nah, I've got a meeting with Lindell in 10." Sonny replied as he finished putting some things away. "A meeting with Lindell?" Clay asked curiously. "I didn't do anything if that is what you're thinking." Sonny replied. "So what do you think it's about?" Clay asked wondering himself. "I don't know. Maybe he needs a calendar boy and he wants to ask" Sonny replied factiously." "You? Calendar boy?" Clay laughed. "Listen blondie, the world wants more than blond hair and blue eyes now a days" Sonny shot back. "Alright, well you have fun with that." Clay said shaking his head.
Sonny walked into the Commanders office, surprised that not only was the Commander inside but Blackburn and Dr. Natalie Pierce. "Petty Officer Quinn, thank you for coming in." Lindell said as Sonny saluted. Blackburn had a look on his face that was a mix of distress and anger. Sonny couldn't think of anything he had done recently that would have caused that and typically in the past when he had, Blackburn came directly to him or worked it through Jason. Did they know about Lisa? It was in the past now. Is this what it would look like if they were caught or would there be a lawyer involved? That can't be it. Thoughts raced through Sonny's mind.
"Petty Officer you know Lt. Commander Blackburn and Dr Natalie Pierce" Lindell gestured their way and Sonny nodded. "Have a seat" Lindell instructed. Sonny glanced at Blackburn again who looked straight ahead, but his body posture was not a happy one. "Petty Officer, as you know, we have been working on ways to extend the life of our operators." Sonny nodded wondering where this was going. Lindell opened up a folder, "In review, it looks like you have banked six months of time off. Is that correct Petty Officer?" "Yes sir, that is correct. I prefer to be in the field and haven't needed any time off." Sonny replied. "It's been found that it is more beneficial to our operatives to take some time away from the field." Lindell began to explain. "Studies have shown that it actually allows operatives to perform at high levels and increases the life of their service," Natalie interjected. "With all due respect Commander, I believe that while that may be true for some operatives, it doesn't apply to every operative" Sonny replied trying to be as professional and objective as possible.
"As you know Petty Officer Quinn, I've been brought here specifically to help extend the lives of our operatives out in the field. To do this, I've observed as well as interviewed teammates, which allows me to get an individual picture of an operative." Natalie explained. Sonny had a lot of responses that he wanted to give to Natalie but none of them appropriate. "Permission to be frank?" Sonny asked. "Of course" Natalie nodded. "I wasn't aware that I was being observed, and are you telling me that my teammates have stated that I am not performing optimally in the field?" he asked in a slightly defensive tone.
"Petty Officer if you recall, when we first introduced the team to Dr. Pierce we advised that she would be observing you all." Lindell explained. "I've talked with members of Bravo and there was a consensus among everyone I talked to that you are at risk for a spin out. Sometimes we don't realize the stress and load we put on ourselves until it's too late. That's why we want to make sure that operatives take some time away from the job as well."
Sonny bit the inside of his lip. He looked at Blackburn who still hadn't looked at him. There was so much anger boiling inside of Sonny he wanted to flip the conference table over and tell them all where they could go.
"Under the advisement of Dr. Pierce, I've decided to put you on leave so that you can use up some of your banked time. " Lindell explained. "So I'm off the team for SIX months?" Sonny asked jaw clenched. "No Sonny." Blackburn finally interjected something. "The Commander isn't saying you have to take your full time, just a month or so" he explained. Sonny nodded still angry. "After a month, we'll sit down and have a chat; see how things are going and then we can decide if you should be active duty or possibly take another couple weeks off" Natalie explained.
Sonny felt betrayed and angry. This job was the one thing that prevented a full on spin out. It was all he had. "Understood" he said reluctantly as he stood. "Again Petty Officer, this is about extending your life as an operator, not getting you out" Lindell tried to assure him. "Understood Sir" Sonny replied. "Do you have any questions for us?" Lindell asked. "No sir" Sonny replied silently thinking "none that I can ask you without being kicked out of the Navy completely." "Alright then. Dismissed"
Sonny walked out of the office, his fist clenched.
"He seemed to be ok with it" Lindell said talking to Blackburn and Natalie. When they had first approached Blackburn with this news he advised them it was not a good idea and would not go over well. "Petty Officer Quinn is not every other operator" he explained. "He is highly qualified and dedicated to his position. He performs better when he has that focus" he tried to explain. "In interviewing his Bravo team mates they were all concerned about his attitude and the way he pushes himself. It's not a good thing to do. I could also understand if Petty Officer Quinn pushed himself because he was on the path for a higher-ranking position but that doesn't seem to be the case at all." Natalie replied. "Sonny, Petty Officer Quinn, is content where he is at Bravo 3. That's because he's the workhorse. He isn't concerned with trying to one up a teammate but fully supporting them" Blackburn stated firmly. Lindell still decided to side with Dr. Pierce but agreed they would not force Sonny to take more than a month off initially.
Sonny walked back into the team's room and punched the wall. "UGH" he grunted loudly. His head was spinning he was so angry. He did not do well with downtime but that wasn't even the most frustrating part. Apparently, his team, his brothers felt like he wasn't performing optimally and instead of coming to him they shared this with Natalie. He began removing things from his cage. Throwing them in his bag. Jason and Ray walked into the room as a can flew across the room. "What the?!" Jason exclaimed. "Sonny" Ray called out. "What the hell is going on?" Jason asked angrily. Sonny reached up to take down his Texas flag as he heard Jason and turned around to meet him at the door of his cage. "Why don't you tell ME what the hell is going on?" Sonny asked standing toe to toe with Jason. "Hey, hey, hold on now" Ray said trying to be peacemaker. "Let's talk about this" he said trying to separate them. Trent walked in not sure what was going on. "What's going on?" he asked as he walked towards Sonny and Jason to help Ray keep distance between them. A few seconds later Clay and Brock entered. "There's nothing to talk about" Sonny replied staring at Jason. "Obviously there is something to talk about" Jason replied mad. He was standing there as if he expected Sonny to back down but Sonny wasn't backing down. They were in the door of Sonny's cage and Ray was doing his best to put some distance between them but there was no way for him to get between them. "YOUR GIRLFRIEND had me kicked off active duty for a minimum of a month. If you had a problem with me Jace you should have come to me directly. ALL OF YOU should have come to me. Apparently though, I'm the weak link here and every damn one of you feel that way." Sonny replied his face red. He didn't want to throw punches and while he wasn't giving in to Jason he moved back. Grabbing his Texas flag and taking it down. The rest of the team sat silent not knowing what was going on. "What do you mean Sonny?" Jason asked now lost. "You heard me" Sonny said now calm. Calm Sonny is when things got really scary and everyone knew it. "Natalie had you taken off active duty? She can't do that" Jason said as the other guys looked at him. "Well, she did. According to her all of you have expressed to her that I suck so after a month away, she'll re-evaluate when or if I can come back."
Jason had one hand on his hip and rubbed the other over his mouth. "No. Nobody said that and nobody told me about this." "Well, it is what it is.. Maybe it's time for me to be done anyway" Sonny said picking up his bag and placing it on his shoulder pushing past Jason and the other guys.
"Sonny, hold on minute" Jason said as Sonny headed towards the door. Clay reached out to grab Sonny's arm but Sonny pulled it back in a way that Clay understood if he tried again he'd be on the floor. As Sonny opened the door Blackburn was coming in. "Sonny" Blackburn started but Sonny ignored him and exited the door. Blackburn took a deep breath. "What is going on?" Jason asked "Maybe you should ask Dr. Pierce" Blackburn replied without his normal filter. "Apparently all of you have told her that Sonny is on the verge of a spin out and that there's a need for concern." "Hold on, I haven't talked to her about Sonny" Clay said. "Me either" Trent replied and Brock agreed. Jason looked at Ray. "What? You think I went to Natalie? Nah. Nah you know that is not me." Ray replied defensively as he looked at the other guys who were wondering the same thing. "Is this still about Davis? I was the one who said we needed to get back her for her." Ray told them, still feeling guilty about not going into the room for her. "Yeah and then you waited outside." Clay chimed in. "For someone who is dipping their toes in the political society Spenser, you need to check yourself before you question me on that" Ray shot back. "You can trust that being their for my team, my family will never be a second guess for me Ray" Clay replied bowing up. "HEY, Calm down. We still have jobs to do. There are things that need to be worked out and Bravo fighting is not going to help. Get your heads on straight" Blackburn told them all firmly. "I'll be back" Jason said as he headed out the door. "Jason" Blackburn called out. Jason stopped and turned around. "You need to check yourself before going in hot and shooting yourself in the foot" Blackburn warned. "Yes sir" Jason replied taking a deep breath. He went towards Natalie's office as Blackburn went up the stairs. As Blackburn walked up he passed Mandy who noticed Jason's demeanor. "What's going on?" she asked curiously. "Dr. Pierce has had Bravo 3 taken off active duty" Blackburn said quietly. "What?!" Mandy asked shocked. "Why? Can she just do that?"
"I tried to fight it but upper brass didn't agree." Blackburn shrugged feeling defeated "and now Bravo is about to implode."
Jason walked into Natalie's office. "Hey there" Natalie smiled when she looked up but it quickly faded as she saw Jason's red face. "What's wrong?" she asked standing. "What's wrong? What's wrong? You know what's wrong" He paced. "No, I don't" she replied. "You had Sonny taken off active duty. He is my guy. It's my team. You had no right to just do that" Jason said shaking his head and still pacing her office. "Look Jason" Natalie said touching his arm trying to calm him. "Petty Officer Quinn has six months of vacation on the books," she explained. "So? Is that a crime now?" Jason asked "He's running himself into the ground. You cannot hold up that physical and mental demand. All of Bravo have said that you see that in him. He mask his problems with sarcasm but he is on the verge of a major spin out if he doesn't get things in order" she explained. "He IS NOT on the verge of a spin out or maybe I should say he wasn't until you did this." Jason shook his head. "You've told me yourself he can get out of control." She defended. "I told you that in confidence. I told you that in a different context than what you are putting it into right now." "All of Bravo has mentioned the same things about Sonny. I think that you may be to close to him to really see it but he needs time away" she said leaning against the desk. "No, what he needs is to not feel like his team has turned on him. He needs to be busy to stay out of trouble. That's what he needs. I cannot believe you did this" Jason replied before walking out of her office.
Jason was trying to figure out his next step when he was paged to get to the briefing room. Lisa was standing at the front of the table getting ready as Bravo filed in. There was a definite tension in the air and she wasn't sure why. Jason walked in and everyone looked his way. "Did you fix it?" Clay asked. "No. Not yet." Jason sat down angry. "What's going on? Lisa asked now realizing that the whole team was here but Sonny. Before anyone could answer Blackburn entered in with another person. "Alright, listen up. This is Petty Officer Michael Chen. He will be joining Bravo Team during Bravo 3's absence." Davis felt like she had been punched in the gut. She looked at Blackburn, "Where's Sonny?" "It's a long story, I'll fill you in after the briefing" he responded.
As the briefing ended, Blackburn got a call and stepped out of the room. Lisa looked at the team and asked "Where's Sonny?" "He's been pulled off active duty" Jason told her. "What? Why?" Davis asked concerned. "Ask friendly Dr. Pierce" Clay interjected. "Alright Spenser" Jason shot back. "Is he ok? Why did she have him removed?" Lisa questioned. Jason ran his hands over his face. "I am trying to find out" he said, his tone annoyed. "Listen, I need a favor" he said looking at Lisa. "Anything" Lisa replied. "I need you to check on Sonny." Jason said thinking. While Sonny may not be willing to talk to any of the guys, his and Lisa's relationship was different. "I don't think that's a good idea" Ray chimed in. "Oh here we go" Clay chuckled. "I'm just saying" he held up his hands and looked at Lisa not wanting to divulge to the team. Lisa clenched her teeth. "I'm checking on him. I'll let you know" she said looking directly at Ray as if to say in this instance she would not be intimidated. She walked out of the room as the others got up and pulled out her phone. Clay followed behind her trying to catch up. She dialed Sonny's number and it went to voicemail. "Hey Sonny, it's Lisa. Call me" she said as she hung up. "Hey" Clay called out as he caught up. Lisa turned "I tried to all but he's not answering. I might have to go over" she said worried. "I'll go with you" Clay replied. "No, it's fine" she shook her head. "Davis listen" he said in an almost whisper looking around, "I know about what happened. It might not be the best idea for you to go" he told her. Lisa felt defensive "You know what?" she asked. "I know he was in head over heels in love with a girl and they couldn't be together because of her job and that it left him pretty broken because he had never allowed anyone to be that close" Clay replied calmly. Lisa could feel emotion welling up inside. "He told you about us?" she asked feeling unsure of who all he had shared this with. "No. But I'm not dumb and I can put things together. He only admitted that there was a girl after I harassed him continually. Even then he would always avoid telling her name." Clay shook his head. Now Lisa felt like a guilty jackass. "God" she said putting her hand over her face.