Sonny'd had a bad feeling before they entered the damn cave network - add in a creepy tunnel that dead ends at some old statue? Asking for trouble. And Spenser just had to go and touch the damn thing.

Rated T. Age regression/de-aging. Kid fic.

Never question Sonny's bad feelings.

Chapter Fifteen

Sonny awoke that morning with a deeply unsettling feeling in his gut. Indigestion be damned, something was going to hit the wall.

"Gotta bad feeling," Sonny grumbled as he sat down at the table. Clay climbed into the chair beside him with as much gusto as any four year old with a sugary cereal at the finishing line.

"Daddy says bad feelings are just instincts we don't know the name of," Clay managed to spit out between bites of cocoa puffs.

Trent caught Sonny's eyes from across the table, "This about that phone call from last night?" Sonny shrugged.

No one brought it up, but it was obvious Sonny was on edge. He could feel himself bristling at every little thing. Even Clay had picked up on it. Sonny had been relegated to the reading chair much earlier than usual.

"Why did he steal the lightning bolt?" Clay tilted his head back against Sonny's chest. The book lay open on Clay's lap and the kid's eyes were wide as he pursed his lips.

"Guess he was mad about something?" Sonny nodded at the book, "What's the book say?"

Clay looked back at the pages, shrugged, "Not really." Sonny gestured with his hand and Clay passed the book to him.

Sonny was not even three pages into the section Clay was on before he felt the familiar dead weight on his side. A smile tugged on Sonny's lips.

"Well, I just got a call from Harrington."

And the tugging stopped.

Sonny looked over to Blackburn, who was shaking a still sleeping Jason, "Our visitors are here."

Jason grumbled and stumbled his way after Blackburn. Davis handed him a coffee cup that the man proceeded to down before. He even got to the door.

"Should we wake the kid?" Brock appeared on Sonny's right. Sonny looked up at him with eyes narrowed. The younger man took a step back, hands raised in surrender, "Message received."

Ray chuckled from the table a few feet away, "Calm down Sonny. With any luck, this will all be resolved in an hour or two."

Sonny scoffed, "Might have, you didn't just jinx it."

When the woman walked in, the resemblance to Clay was remarkable. Eyes, nose, and dirty blonde hair. She hadn't greyed like Ash had, but the dark circles and cracked lips proved to age her just as well.

The fidgeted hands drew Sonny's eyes first, the cigarette in them second. When she rushed out the door she left a room full of stunned men. And Sonny.

"Well that didn't go well," Sonny spoke as he stood, arms moving to wrap around the snoozing toddler. Clay snuggled into his chest.

Ash Spenser hadn't chased after his ex-wife. His face was pale as a freshly painted wall - with a similar sort of sheen. Donahue didn't have any better of a poker face.

"Like I said, easier to show you," Jason clapped the congressman's shoulder. The man leveled dark green eyes on the Master Chief.

"What's this got to do with Billy?" Ash's voice was firm as his gaze lifted from Clay to turn on Hayes.

Blackburn cleared his throat, "From what we've gathered, he'll change back when whatever issue he had at this age is resolved." Ash focused on Clay again.

"I'll get Billy." Ash dropped the bag he'd had over his shoulder onto the table and walked out.

Donahue took a seat, "I don't remember dealing with this sort of shit when I was a SEAL."

"Well, a lot's changed since the Paleolithic era." Trent quipped, earning stifled chuckles and snorts from the room.

Even Donahue cracked a smile, "Yeah, there's more rules now." He leveled an eye on Sonny - who'd started pacing as he made shushing noises. Clay burrowed deeper, head turning side to side as he fidgeted.

"Eh, rules, smules," Sonny met the congressman's gaze with a tight grin. "A gunfight is a gunfight, whether it's fought with a bayonet or a grenade launcher."

Bravo traded looks around the room. A forced laugh from Sonny was not at all comforting. Trent had tensed, ready to restrain his friend.

When Billy stepped back into the barrack it was alone, fingers twisting and the scent of Camels Unfiltered lingering. She took quick steps to the table and sat. Her eyes were focused intently on her fingers as she rapped them on the flat surface.

Sonny's facade of forced smiles dropped. Donahue offered Billy a quick squeeze, "Just remember, you're bigger than him."

A stuttered laugh was her only response before her eyes darted up to watch Sonny pace the room with her son.

Sonny, for his part, made zero moves towards Billy Spenser. Which really, he should get points for. What sort of Mama runs in this situation? Sure, non standard situation, but his mama would definitely have jumped at the chance to deal with tiny Sonny again (or he assumed as much from her constant demands for grandchildren).

"Where'd Ash go?" Brock asked, eyes squinted on the door.

Billy shook her head as Donahue barked out a laugh.

"Man could stare down a missile," Donahue shrugged, "But you put his own damn son in front of him? Suddenly he's all butter fingers." Jazz hands were added for emphasis.

Ray gave Sonny the stink-eye to silence what was sure to be a diatribe. Sonny clamped his mouth shut and continued his pacing. Spenser's daddy issues were certainly not new nor unexpected.

"So, how are we doing this?" Trent nodded his head towards Billy Spenser, eyes on Sonny.

Sonny grimaced, "Figure the kid wakes up, let him control the situation."

The plan…did not go according to plan.

"Mommy!" Clay was more than happy to see his mother. He climbed into her lap promptly, despite her obvious surprise and discomfort. He then proceeded to chat her ear off and ask a few hundred questions about a trip she'd never taken over 20 years ago.

No light. No transformation.

"How long did this take the first time?" Hayes leaned in to ask Sonny.

"Instantaneous. Touched the statue, bright light, baby Clay."

Sonny gestured emphatically, jazz hands included. Hayes watched the energetic blond - no light.

"Do you have Master Chief?" Clay's hand swiveled around, looking under and over his mother as if he might have missed the bear.

Billy Spenser nodded and then dragged the bag Ash had left on the table over. She pulled from its depths a worn teddy bear. The Navy uniform identified his rank and a small metal pin on one wide said Bearsovelt.

If Sonny had thought the kid had lit up when he saw his mother, the face he made when the bear was handed over was one of reverant awe. Clay's eyes and mouth were wide open, cheeks pulled up in a grin that might actually rival Texas.

"So that there is the famous Master Chief, eh?" Ray stepped up next to the mother and son as Clay proceeded to squish his stuffed animal to his chest.

Still no light.

"What the hell?" Sonny grumbled under his breath. Hayes shot him a look - eyebrows raised, eyes narrowed. Sonny returned it cause how the hell was he suppose to know what to do?

Sonny glanced back to the kid, who was happily chatting to his bear and glancing occasionally at the door. Of fuxking course.

"Find Ash," Sonny turned his back on the scene as he whispered to Hayes. Jason raised an eyebrow. Sonny rolled his eyes, "One big happy family, betcha 10 bucks."

Hayes pressed his palm into his eye socket, but started towards the door. He tapped the Congressman on the shoulder as he went.

"Uncle Will!" Clay's eyes were alight when he spotted Donahue standing up. "Where are you going?"

Donahue smiled at him, "Gonna track down a boring old man, Baby Spense, be right back." Clay sat back down in his mother's lap, either ignorant of or entirely familiar with her stuff posture.

Billy Spenser was somehow whiter than her roots. Sonny was half tempted to scoot a bucket over to her, just in case. The petty part of him thought she should have to run for the toilet.

Petty part won. So they all waited. The only noise was Clay - chattering on to his bear. Trent and Brock occasionally chuckling at the kid's 'briefing.'

Apparently Sonny was Mr. Sonny in the official tale. "He bought me books, but he's only an adequate reader."

"Hey, now!" Sonny waved his arms out dramatically, "I ain't never had to be no one's 'reader' before."

Clay blinked at him, "We'll take that under advisement." He looked back af Master Chief. Sonny had never wanted to go bear hunting so much in his life.

When Ash Spenser was shoved back into the room, and none-too-gently guided towards his son by Donahue, Clay dropped his bear. The kid jumped from his mother's lap - earning a grunt from the woman in question - and ran for his father.

That was, of course, when the damn light finally came.

And, just like it had previously, Sonny's bad feeling was proven right. The light faded and Clay Spenser - all six foot something and lightly defined abs - was lying unconscious on the ground. Naked.

Sonny glanced at his watch, "Well looky there, Ray, just shy of two hours. Guess ya didn't jinx us after all."

Fin

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