A/N May 4, 2019: If you currently are reading this story, note that all chapters have been updated. See author's note for chapter 1.

Thanks to those who have asked if I will update, I take that as a huge compliment. Just been on vacation, but will be updating again now. This will be a full story, plot already outlined so I promise you will know when it has reached its end. Here's one more chapter looking back in the past from Bones'/Jack's POV. Hope you enjoy the read :)

Chapter 9: To live by the rules

JACK

Time and different ops went by. He kept his mind occupied and with distance between them he thought he had just had some minor crush on Georgie, enhanced by the circumstances under which they met. Or not even a crush. He had not been with a girl for a long time, hardly even seen one during tour. He had been horny, in the mood for a shag and that was all. He was glad to be back to his usual self and enjoyed working with the special forces team, Spanner and Peanut.

When he first joined them right after the death of Elvis, he had done it respectfully, mindful that they just had lost a friend and appreciated boss and given them time to accept and adapt to their new leader. He knew they were extremely skilled, so he could trust them to do their job without keeping them on a short leech.

The covert op in Nigeria was their first longer operation together, stretching over several months. By then he felt like they were working like a smooth machinery, both as a performing team and as newfound friends. He had not been sure how his men felt though, until Spanner one evening said:

"You know boss, I'm really glad we got you as CO after Elvis. If we had gotten someone I didn't like or respect I think I'd have left the Army."

"And now you're staying?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"Same for me" Peanut chipped in.

Jack was moved to hear this, as he knew they were not the kind of guys who said things unless they meant them.

"That's the best compliment you could give me. I'm proud to be working with the two of you."

When they returned from Nigeria, and he was a bit rattled from the encounter with Georgie, it felt good to have the routines with the lads to fall into again although he never let them know what had happened. Not only because he felt ashamed, but he also knew that to them she was Elvis' girl and always would be. He would not risk their trust in him by exposing he had tried to sleep with her.

Then came Belize and changed the rules of the game.

- OG -

They were called to Belize to help rescue two British soldiers who had been caught in the jungle during a training exercise going wrong. When he learned that they were from 2 section he was willing to bet Georgie was one of them. That girl was attracting trouble. He was not sure what he felt about crossing her path but, now that he was his usual balanced self again, he figured he would able to shut off any emotions whatever they were.

Upon arrival in Belize they were briefed that one of the two missing soldiers was Captain James, who was seriously injured from having stepped into some kind of animal trap in the middle of the jungle. The spear-like trap had penetrated his thigh and he was unable to move. Indeed, it was like Jack had guessed, the second soldier was Georgie but this time she could hardly be blamed for having brought trouble upon herself. As the medic, she had volunteered to stay with James alone in the jungle, as she was the one best equipped to take care of the wound and that could make the difference between life and death in this climate where wounds easily got infected. The situation had been further complicated when they found out they happened to be in the territory of a ruthless drug gang who were likely to try to kill them at sight. Over the course of a few hours, the training exercise had turned into an extremely dangerous real situation and now Jack and his men were needed to resolve it.

During the briefing, Jack realised that all their lives would be in danger during this rescue mission, as the local bandits were far better acquainted with the territory than them and had the upper hand. They had no choice though and he immediately ordered the men to prepare to move. Their hope stood to a tracker James had been wearing, which was sending out signals with regular intervals and might enable them to locate them, hopefully alive and without crossing the path of the bandits.

The next days were an ordeal. The climate was hot and humid, the terrain was difficult as they had to cut through thick vegetation and walk through deep muddy waters where dangerous animals likely were lurking. They had a backlash when they localised the tracker, abandoned, lying hidden in a village that had been burned by the bandits, but no sign of the two missing soldiers. It seemed like James and Lane had been forced to move from where the rest of the section left them, despite his serious injury. The rescue team had to accept that the chances of finding them alive now were minuscule and their hope of locating them stood to the drones they used for surveillance from above.

Jack refused to give up hope. He was unusually irritable with the men because he worried they would not reach James and Lane in time and pushed himself and the others to their limit. He did not waste any energy thinking of if his efforts were just what they would have been for any rescue mission, or if there was something more to it this time. Something else than his sense of duty driving him to frantically search through the jungle.

Hope emerged when there were signs that Georgie and James were on the move to a deserted air field and the rescue team headed that way. It was a miracle that Georgie had managed to move the injured James that far and the others realised that lost soldiers must be desperate.

When they finally approached the old air field, Jack was warned that the drones had located the bandits, coming from the other direction. Then he heard the Brigadier's voice over the radio giving an order.

"Do not engage unless it is absolutely inevitable."

Jack pretended there was disturbance in the communication and did not confirm receiving the order. There was no way he would stand by whilst James and Lane were killed in front of him just for some political game. His priorities were crystal clear, he would save them at any cost now that they were so close.

In that instant, they heard shooting and sprinted, dreading they would be too late. James was nowhere to be seen, but Georgie had taken cover and was firing back at the thugs. Alone she would hardly had stood a chance for long as she was one against many, so help arrived in the last moment.

"Down, Lane!" Jack shouted as they fired, only for a split second allowing himself to feel relief she was alive before he focused on the men with guns. The fire only lasted a few minutes and the end of it, the bandits were all dead. They were ruthless, but the soldiers were far more skilled with their weapons.

The fire ceased, and he reached her, his heart now thumping hard with relief. She was dirty and bruised but seemed to be fine. He would have liked to catch her in his arms and tell her everything was okay now but that was simply not how things were done.

"How many times do I have to come rescue you Lane?"

It was all he harshly managed to say, and she did not look best pleased that, again, it was him of all people coming to her rescue. Even if he did not want to admit it to himself he had nurtured a small hope that she might look at him with a hint of admiration, some kind of gratefulness or even awe that he in alpha-male style had fought his way and found them in the middle of the jungle, but he saw none of that.

Her attention was not even really with him. She was preoccupied examining a young boy who had been shot by the bandits. It appeared he had helped her and James over the last days, and without him they would never had made it. The light in his eyes was now gone, forever extinguished by a shot to his head. Jack found it tragic but had seen too much over the course of his career to allow himself to feel for people he did not know, knowing sadness would drown him if he got started. Georgie held the dead boy in her lap, rocking him like a baby. For a moment she was lost in sorrow for the wasted life of a good person who had not yet left adolescence, and now never would. Then she snapped back to the urgent situation, remembering the captain who was still alive but in a bad state.

"We need a medevac! Immediately!" she told Jack and that set him in motion, made him stop just staring at her.

Captain James was lying in a deserted building, hot with fever and unconscious. The injured leg was now infected and from what Jack could tell it looked very serious. He silently wondered if James would be able to keep his leg and walk again.

Soon, the helicopter came to transport James to the nearest hospital for the most urgent treatment. Trucks came to evacuate the others from what was now considered a crime scene. Even though the dead men where criminals, they were civilians who had been killed outside any war zone.

In the truck, Jack sat beside Georgie and with the adrenaline vanishing from his body, he felt strangely weak. Maybe because of the deep relief that she was safe and sound. He would have liked to comfort her after the last days' ordeal but did not even dare to put an arm around her shoulders or pat her on the back as he could have with any of the men, out of fear she would not welcome it.

Back at the camp and mission accomplished, he had barely had time for a shower and shave when he was summoned to the Brigadier. Jack knew him since before and this Brigadier was a commander which he did not think very highly of, as he always seemed more concerned with how things appeared than with what was actually achieved. The conversation that day maintained that impression.

Jack was told that it had been both bad judgement and disobeying orders to intervene and kill the bandits. As they were civilians there would be repercussions and the diplomatic costs would be dear. It was easy to read between the lines of the Brigadier's words that the preferred choice would have been to leave Lane and James to their fate. Jack was almost choking with anger but realised it would not help his case to talk against the officer in command.

"Currently I'm doubting you are fit to be a special forces captain and you will need to prove yourself before you continue in that role."

This he had not expected.

"What? Am I being demoted, Sir?"

"You can see it anyway you want, Captain McClyde. You will remain a captain but not for your regular unit."

Jack began to fear where this was going.

"After the injury of Captain James, 2 section are a captain short and will be for the foreseeable future, I dare say. You will take on that role"

"Sir…"

"Not a word, this is an order – this time to be obeyed if you wish to have a continued career in the Army, McClyde."

For fucks sake! Things could not get much worse. Beside leaving the team and job he loved, he would have to lead a much less experienced team and among them Georgie Lane. He had no valid reason to refuse - the last thing he wanted was to tell the Brigadier that he found one of the soldiers dangerously attractive. Instead, he would have to bury those feelings deep inside and suck it up. With gritted teeth he saluted the Brigadier and left to take on his new, unwanted role.

- OG -

Six months later, 2 section with Jack in the lead were sent off to Bangladesh. Officially it was a humanitarian mission but for his part also a covert operation few knew of due to its sensitivity, ironically involving the Brigadier. In his own opinion, Jack had managed being commander of 2 section quite well up to now, by following a set of simple but strict rules he had set up for himself.

Never to be alone with Corporal Lane.

Only talk to her as the job required.

Never touch her and avoid being too close to her.

Be at least as hard on her as on any of the others.

And never let her think he would repeat the suggestion to spend a night together.

Living by that he thought he was doing fine, even if he suspected 2 section would disagree.

During the past six months he had drilled them harder than they ever had experienced under James' leadership. He knew that it did not make them like him particularly, but he wanted a section that was fit for purpose, the secret purpose ha had, and that was priority one. If Corporal Lane did not like him, it was just a perk which made his life easier.

Yet, it turned out that much was not needed to rock his solid ground. One morning he went running in the early hours before the others woke up. To stay as fit himself as he required the men to be, he had made an early morning PT his habit and he was pushing himself near maximum every time. Coming to the end of his run, he rounded a corner and abruptly bumped into Georgie. To keep them both from falling he instinctively grabbed her and for a few seconds their bodies were close. Close enough to feel the form under the clothes and each other's body heat, close enough for her to feel the smell of his fresh sweat and for him to feel the pleasant smell of some shampoo or soap. He noticed her breasts pressed to his torso and immediately backed away.

"Are you okay? What are you doing? Why are you up this early?" he asked in one breath. He thought he behaved like a fool, but she did not seem to notice.

"Following your orders, Sir. Going for a run. You told me I'm too slow, always coming in last so I try to improve that."

He could not complain about her determination, yet he felt terribly annoyed, mostly because he was knocked out of balance in more than one sense.

"Crack on then Lane but look where you're running next time".

He returned to his quarters and it was like he still had the touch and feel of her lingering on his body like a burn. He had to shake that off quickly as he was preparing for his own "death" the following day, so he headed for the showers to literally wash her off together with the sweat from the run.

- OG -

Everything had been meticulously planned in preparation for a VIP reception for the Brigadier. There were the official preparations including 2 section participating in a parade, and there were the secret preparations Jack made to fake his own death, so he could continue his covert operation. He had on several occasions visited the intended location for the garden party to plan where the mock bomb was to be placed for him to "discover", where he would run with it to be detonated, where he would disappear to afterwards and be picked up. He had decided that a small gazebo was the perfect place for the detonation. It was located at some distance from where most guests would be mingling, and it would be empty once the string quartet that was to play classical music there had a break. On the gazebo's pillars he had attached a couple of small, hidden explosive devices that would stand for the actual explosion, causing enough material destruction to make it believable. The mock bomb he would be holding would only cause an explosive sound and lots of smoke, but not harm him. Even though everything was prepared in detail he was feeling tense before it all got started, one could never know if something unexpected would happen.

In the end, everything went according to plan. The only thing he had not taken into account was Georgie standing staring right at him when the bomb was about to detonate, her face frozen in fear and disbelief. It hit him then what he was putting her through, considering the history with Elvis.

When their eyes met, he had wanted to tell her; "l'm not another one dying in front of you. You will see" Then came the explosion and smoke and he did not see her anymore.

Away from Georgie and 2 section he had been able to focus completely on his task and had secured the final piece of evidence that the Brigadier was heavily involved in the drug trade. He was still in doubt when it came to Inspector Chowdhrey however, not knowing if he was corrupted or, on the contrary trying to stop the yabba from reaching the refugees. That was why he had followed Chowdhrey yesterday when he saw Georgie and had brought her back here.

Had it really been necessary to bring her with him to his room or had he just wanted to be with her? He had broken his rule to never be alone with her and when she unexpectedly touched him... All his self-discipline had vanished like he had been washed over by a tsunami wave. That light touch and it had been like he had no willpower anymore, only senses and emotions.

Flashbacks from the night went through his mind; Georgie over him with her dark hair hanging like a curtain around his face, barely letting her lips touch his, moving her body... him being over her while she moaned and spoke out his name and he felt her tense and shudder inside, around him, and then he let himself go too... him kissing the soft skin of her back, tasting her, smelling her lovely scent, while she was lying content, half asleep.

In that moment, he had nearly told her that seeing her to him perfect shape in the morning light, the curve of her back, her buttocks, he could not help but hearing this silly John Mayer song* playing inside his head because this was just like it. He bit his tongue and swallowed the words as he felt that even if it was true, it would come out sounding totally cheesy. Instead he had kissed her back and told her he did not want this to end.

Just thinking back at the night, he felt his body reacting. He realised now that he had been badly mistaken that time in Nigeria when he had thought that he by sleeping with Georgie would her out of his system. She was in no way gone, instead it seemed she was flowing through his veins like quicksilver.

He would not want this undone, but neither could he afford to let it happen again. There are no army regulations stating what dead officers should do, but in a few days, he would "resurrect" and then there would be no excuses if he was not fully focused on the job. He could not allow himself to lose sight of the task at hand, not even for a second. No matter what both his heart and his groin inconveniently told him, he knew he could not involve himself with Georgie but had to keep her at a safe distance if he wanted to stay a professional soldier.

*The song Jack was thinking of was John Mayer's 'Your body is a wonderland'