While grabbing a bite to eat and talking a bit more to Brock and Sonny, Clay finally started to feel like things were turning around. He definitely didn't feel completely back to his normal self, but it was still progress so he accepted it.
Once they were done eating they dropped Clay back off at his apartment, satisfied with the progress that was made. They knew he still had a small ways to go, but they didn't want to push too far too fast. Clay thanked them for being there and lunch, and then headed towards his apartment.
As he was walking towards the stairs, he realized how emotionally drained and exhausted he was. He couldn't wait to get back in to his apartment. As he made it to the top of the stairs and rounded the corner leading to his apartment. He looked up and stopped in his tracks.
Jason was sitting on the ground next to his door just waiting for him to return home.
"Uh. Hey?" Clay said questionably. There was no need to ask Jason what he was doing there, he knew he was there to talk. Clay just wished the conversation could have waited a day or two longer.
"Hey." Jason replied softly as he began to stand up.
Clay unlocked his door and pushed it open, motioning for Jason to enter.
Jason nodded and slowly entered with Clay following right behind. Jason sat down on the couch while Clay headed towards the kitchen. "You uh, want something to drink?" Clay asked.
"Sure. Yeah. I'll take a beer." Jason said.
Clay grabbed two beers and walked towards the living room, handing one of the beers to Jason and then sitting on the opposite end of the couch.
There was about 45 seconds of awkward silence before Jason finally spoke up. "Look." Jason said ending the silence. "I know we didn't exactly see eye to eye in Mexico but…"
"I'm sorry. I was out of line and I never should have questioned you." Clay cut him off.
"Don't apologize. I get it. You were frustrated and uhhhh maybe a little right." Jason said, slightly catching Clay off guard.
"I was right?" Clay asked.
Jason slowly nodded his head up and down. "Only a little right." Jason smiled. I DID want to prove that I was ready to be back. Not just to Mandy but to everyone so I might have pushed things a little too far. We never should have followed Lazo after he left the club, not without backup. But we HAD to get to him in order to get to Doza." Jason explained.
"I understand Jason. I do. The worlds a better place now that they're gone, you don't have to apologize for that." Clay replied.
"But I do. If we wouldn't have followed Lazo, you guys wouldn't have been taken and tortured. We wouldn't have had to rescue you guys and.,," Jason trailed off. "I wouldn't have had to bring you back to life." He mumbled.
"And you wouldn't have gotten Lazo and Doza." Clay added.
Jason knew Clay was right. The team had done things they weren't exactly proud of in order to find Clay, Brock and Sonny, things they never would have done had half their teammates not been taken. If they hadn't, they probably never would have found Lazo and Doza.
"I don't blame you for what happened. Not anymore." Clay added as Jason looked up at him. "I did. I did for a long time, but when we were out to eat and Sonny told me everything you guys did to find us, I realized I was wrong to blame you."
Jason sort of shrugged his shoulders but didn't say a word.
"You were just doing what you had to do. I get that now." Clay continued.
"I'd do it every time. Those two men, they were pure evil. They needed to be stopped, but I am sorry if anything I said or did made you feel like you doubted me as a leader. That was never my intention. I will always do anything and everything it takes to keep you and the rest of the team safe. It might not always seem that way, but it's true." Jason admitted.
"I understand that now and I'm sorry for ever doubting you." Clay also apologized.
The two men then stood up and hugged it out before sitting back down. "So uh, about earlier with your dad. Sorry about that." Jason said.
Clay let out a little laugh. "Don't be. I'm just sorry I didn't get to punch him first."
"What was he doing here anyway?" Jason asked, knowing Ash hardly ever stopped by to see Clay when he was in town.
"He wanted to talk so he took me to dinner to that new Italian place last night, or at least attempted. I walked out after I had enough. He was rubbing in the fact that Stella left, said I'm no better than he was, tried to talk me into leaving Bravo and joining his buddies team. I didn't want to hear any of it, so I walked home. Bastard didn't even try to stop me." Clay rolled his eyes.
"He let you walk home? Why didn't you call someone? Did you forget you were in the hospital not too long ago?" Jason wished now he would have punched Ash even harder.
Clay shrugged. "I didn't know who to call, plus I needed fresh air. And the doctor said walking would be good for me. Sonny and I were supposed to meet at our usual running spot this morning to walk but I obviously never made it, hence why he showed up here."
Jason hated the fact that Clay felt like he had no one to call. "I know I was probably one of the last people you wanted to talk to but you can always call me. I don't care what's going on between us. I will always be there if you need me. Anybody on the team would be there. That's a far walk, and even though the doctor said walking was good, I don't quite think he meant that far. At least not yet. How you feeling?" Jason asked as the realization of the impact the walk could have had on Clay hit him.
"Tired, sore, but it's nothing I can't handle." Clay was downplaying how he really felt and Jason knew it instantly. He saw how slow the kid was moving as they entered the apartment and how he kept shifting in his seat trying to find a more comfortable position, but decided not to say anything.
"Why don't you go relax and get some sleep?" Jason suggested.
Clay immediately agreed and headed towards his bedroom after thanking Jason and locking the door once he left. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this exhausted. He slept the entire rest of the day, only getting up once to use the bathroom and grab something to eat, before heading back to bed where he stayed until the next morning.
He woke up the next morning around 7:00 am. It was the first time in a few weeks he felt like he actually had enough rest without having to take medication or being woken up from a bad dream. He was glad to finally start feeling like himself again. There was just one more thing he had left to do, and it was the one thing he was dreading the most.
Clay stayed in bed for a few minutes, contemplating his next move before finally getting up and heading towards the living room. He sat down on the couch and pulled out his phone, deciding it would be best to just get it over with.
He searched through his recent contacts and hit call once he got to his father's number.
"Hello?" Clay heard from the other end of the phone.
He took a deep breath and replied "Hey Dad."
"Quite surprised to hear from you so soon." Ash said back.
"Yeah, well, I feel like we never really got to finish our conversation last night." Clay couldn't believe he even brought up last night to his father. He was still pissed at him for everything, but he never had a chance to say what he wanted to.
"You want to talk about last night?" Ash was surprised, not really sure which part of the conversation Clay was referring to.
"I'm not leaving Bravo to join your buddy's team. I can't believe you even thought I would consider it." Clay started, already feeling himself getting fired up.
"I just thought it would be a good opportunity for you, for us. We'd be able to see each other a bit more, I could show you some of the ropes, show you how to run your own team, maybe…"
Clay quickly cut him off laughing. "Since when do you care about spending time with me!? You have never been there for me. Ever. All of a sudden you want to start now? I don't think so."
"I have always cared about you Clay. Whether you believe that or not, it's true." Ash said.
"Is that why you walked out when I was five? And when my mom couldn't being a single mother sent me to go live with my grandparents because you couldn't be bothered to step up and take care of me. Because you 'cared' about me?" It took everything Clay had in him not to hang up on his father.
"That's not fair and you know it. You're in the industry, you know how hard it is to balance work and personal lives." Ash tried to defend himself.
"That's a bullshit excuse. You could have made it work if you wanted to but you couldn't be bothered." Clay was beginning to get angrier now.
"Yeah? If it's such a bullshit excuse why couldn't you make it work with Stella? Huh?" Ash hit Clay with the low blow.
"Two completely different situations dad. I got shot and it scared the shit out of her. She said she couldn't sit around just waiting for me to die, but you, you left because you couldn't be bothered. You didn't..." Clay spoke loudly into the phone as the line went dead when Ash hung up on him.
Clay was still fired up after his fight with his dad, but he was glad to have gotten everything off his chest. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he could finally move on for good.
A few minutes later he heard his phone ringing. He looked at the caller ID and was satisfied to see it wasn't his father.
"Hey Sonny, what's up? Clay answered the phone.
"Hey there pretty boy. Just called to see how you were doing today?" Sonny asked.
"You know what? I think I'm good. I think I'm real good." Clay smiled.
"That's what I like to hear. Whatchu say we go take that walk today? Get these ole' bodies moving and back to fighting shape. I already talked to Brock, he's gonna meet us there." Sonny asked. Sonny, Clay and Brock still had a few weeks before they would be cleared to return back to active duty but they were going do everything they could to try to speed up the process.
"Yeah. Sounds good. I'll see you guys there." Clay said as he hung up.
As he was getting ready to walk out the door, he stopped and looked in the mirror. He finally recognized the guy staring back at him and smiled. 'I'm back.' Clay thought as he smiled. 'I'm back.'
The End!
Sorry this chapter took so long. Things were pretty crazy here with the holidays and family coming to visit. I didn't have much time to write. I hope you all liked it and have no fear, the next story has already been started. :)