A/N — Happy Holidays everyone! Make sure to swing by the TLS page on December 22nd to see the Holiday Fest stories. xoxo — tmtctlb

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Chapter 28 — The More Things Change

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Kara opened the door to find Robert Maxwell, the girls' court-appointed representative, standing on her porch. Reminding herself that the point of these surprise inspections was to ensure the girls' safety and not to inspect her home for cleanliness, Kara gave him what she hoped was a welcoming smile. "Mr. Maxwell, please come in."

"Thank you, Mrs. Green," he replied, setting his briefcase on the floor next to the door and removing his shoes.

"Kara, please." After the third — or perhaps fourth — time that happened, Kara gave up correcting people. So long as the court order stated Kara Foster, she would happily allow anyone who wanted to call her Mrs. Green. She closed the door behind Maxwell. "Coffee? Delilah is napping and Stella is watching a movie in the living room but we can talk in the kitchen."

"Coffee would be great," he replied, waving hello to Stella as they passed the room. She didn't seem to notice, her eyes glued to the dancing cartoons on the screen. After checking the baby monitor to make sure that the doorbell hadn't woken Delilah up, Kara began filling the coffee pot. Maxwell wandered the kitchen for a minute before sitting at the table. "Is Mr. Green around?"

Kara hoped that her cringe didn't show. "Danny's at work at the moment. I'll text him that you are here and see if he can make it home."

It wasn't a lie exactly, more an exaggeration. After all, this trip was just a quick jaunt down to Cuba and back. Although the team was supposed to have hit the States on Thursday and when Kara broke down and asked for an update late last night, they were still on the ground in Havana. Kara picked up her cell phone, knowing that there was only a fifty percent chance that Danny would be somewhere with reception. Surprise inspection. RM here. ETA?

"I popped by Delilah's daycare earlier this week and was very impressed by the facilities," Maxwell said, accepting the cup of coffee that Kara offered him.

Kara poured herself a mug and settled at the table across from the man. "Delilah seems very happy there."

"Do you plan to keep her there until kindergarten?" Maxwell asked.

Thankful for a topic without much downside, Kara launched into a discussion of the possible options. Although the base daycare did provide preschool and junior kindergarten options as part of the program, the local elementary school that Stella was attending also had a junior kindergarten program that several other parents had recommended. Of course, the problem with the local school was that it did not provide after-school care to children under five, so Delilah would have to transition back to daycare halfway through the day. They had just exhausted the topic and were moving on to Stella's extracurriculars when Kara's phone pinged. Picking it up, she was pleasantly surprised to see a text from Danny. ETA twenty-ish.

She smiled at Maxwell. "Danny should be home in about thirty minutes, which is just about the time that Delilah will be waking up."

"Perfect. Now regarding the art class..."

xxxxx

"Hey sweetheart." Danny leaned down to brush a kiss against Kara's cheek, his movements stiff. A quick glance at his chest revealed that he had layered his shirts — a good indicator that he was hiding bandages — and Kara barely stopped herself from demanding to know what-the-hell had happened. Danny held out a hand to Maxwell. "Good to see you again. Sorry I wasn't here when you arrived. My schedule can be a little non-traditional."

Maxwell smiled. "Not a problem at all. I completely understand. As you might imagine, much of my own work is done at night and on weekends."

Danny pulled out a chair using his left hand, before lowering himself carefully. Ribs then, most likely, or perhaps his right shoulder was dislocated again. Kara stood, pulling another mug out of the cabinet and pouring Danny a cup of coffee. One that he lifted using his left hand. Definitely his right side. She wondered how many painkillers he had popped in order to maintain this calm outward appearance.

While Maxwell and Danny spoke, Kara moved into the living room, bending down in front of Stella. "Danny's home, if you want to go say hello. But remember that we have guests so we have to be on our best behavior. No roughhousing."

"Yeah!" Stella jumped up. Kara made it into the kitchen just in time for Stella to ignore everything that Kara said and jump onto Danny. "Daddy's home! Daddy's home!"

Kara found herself wincing as she imagined how much that hurt, only registering Stella's words when she hopped back to her feet. "Can I wake up Del? Please! Please! Otherwise she'll only have like two minutes to see Daddy before bedtime."

"Sure sweetie," Danny replied, his eyes rising to meet Kara's and she could see the shimmer of tears — ones that she suspected were not the result of Stella pummeling him. Even Maxwell remained silent, seeming to realize the importance of the moment. Finally, Danny cleared his throat, looking back at the other man. "Am I right in thinking that this is our last home inspection? Not that we haven't enjoyed meeting you, of course."

Maxwell laughed. "I get that a lot. But as much as I have enjoyed spending time with both of you as well, I will be submitting my report by the end of the week and anticipate that the adoption will be finalized on schedule. Barring any natural relatives appearing in the meantime."

In other words, assuming that neither of the girls' fathers appeared. DNA testing indicated that Stella was a close relative of a sailor who died on the USS Gerald R. Ford after the carrier was recalled to Norfolk. But due to the condition of the body when the testing was done, as well as the possibility of cross-contamination, paternity could not be confirmed. Since there was no match in the database for Delilah, Kara and Danny elected to proceed with a notice procedure and had been running advertisements informing the public about the adoption for the last four weeks. Kara did plan to ask Val to look into other methods of extracting DNA in the hopes of giving Stella a definite answer about what happened to her biological father at some point but, for now, finalizing the adoption took priority.

Another twenty minutes passed before Kara was able to get Maxwell out the door, settling the girls down to finish the remainder of Stella's movie before heading to the kitchen — only to find it empty. She located Danny in the en suite to their bedroom, in the process of unwinding strips of cloth from his midsection. As he pulled off the final layer, Kara gasped. The pad underneath was soaked through with blood. She moved forward, peeling off the bandages to reveal an ugly wound.

She pinched her lips together, turning on the sink to scrub her hands. "Gunshot?"

"Yeah, caught it during ex-fil," Danny replied. He ground his teeth together. "I was going to swing by Rios's house but then I got your text. Think you can stitch me up?"

Kara leaned closer, examining the injury. She reached out, pressing the skin just to the left of the wound, which caused another dribble of blood. "Who cleaned it?"

"Tex."

Tex had been in enough scrapes that he knew how to pack a wound. If this happened before they left Cuba, it shouldn't still be bleeding — not unless the bullet nicked something important. Kara shook her head. "There might be damage that we can't see. I'll take you to the base and..."

"No," Danny interrupted. "This has to stay off the books."

Kara forced herself not to roll her eyes, aware that Tex's triage technique involved plenty of painkillers. Danny was probably higher than a kite right now. "So we tell them it was a training exercise. Wolf and Tex will back you and, even if the doctor there suspects something, Slattery will handle it."

But Danny was still shaking his head. "We can't take the chance of Maxwell finding out. Not until he puts in that report. And, even if he doesn't care, the Judge might. Just stitch me up. Okay?"

"Mama?" Called a high-pitched voice. "Mama? I hungry."

Torn between wanting to throttle Danny and wanting to keep Delilah from seeing her father covered in blood, Kara quickly rinsed off her hand again. "I'll call Rios and get him to come over. That was your original plan, right? Convince Timothy to keep this on the down low?"

Danny had the grace to look sheepish as Kara exited the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind her and swinging Delilah onto her hip. "Let's go make some dinner while Daddy gets cleaned up."

xxxxx

Two hours later, Kara walked Rios to the door, leaving Danny snoozing in one of the living room chairs while the girls watched another movie. Kara felt mildly guilty about using the television as a babysitter but she hadn't wanted the girls to get nosy about what was going on in the master bath and Timothy ended up needing her help extracting a piece of the bullet still stuck in Danny. Apparently it was a ricochet rather than a direct hit, explaining the jagged wound.

"Make sure to clean it twice a day and let me know if the bleeding starts again," Rios cautioned. He paused at the entrance. "I understand Green not wanting this to become public but he should have called me as soon as he hit the States. He really needs to take better care of himself. Eventually all of these injuries are going to catch up with him."

Timothy wasn't saying anything that Kara didn't know. She hesitated only a second before asking the question that had been on the tip of her tongue from the moment she walked into that bathroom. "How often has he done this? Called you out for an off-the-books stitch up?"

Rios paused, probably considering how to answer without violating patient-doctor confidentiality. Finally he sighed. "I'll say this, Kara. I'm more concerned that next time he won't call."

Kara closed the door behind Rios feeling even more unsettled. His words rolling around in the back of her head as she got the girls settled then shook Danny awake, planning to move him into their bedroom and crash on the couch. But once she got him settled on the bed, Danny grabbed her hand. "Don't go. Please."

"Danny," Kara began, before caving, climbing onto the bed next to him. Letting him wrap his good arm around her, leaning her head gently against his shoulder. God, she had missed him. "Just for a minute. You need some sleep."

Danny was quiet for so long that Kara assumed he had fallen back to sleep. Then he spoke, his voice cautious. "How pissed are you right now?"

"I'm not mad, Danny." When he scoffed, Kara sighed, carefully turning so that she could see his face. "Worried is not the same as mad. How often have you done that? Bypassed procedure and seen Rios on the downlow?"

The response was instant. "Twice."

Kara studied his face, but she didn't see any indication that he was lying. "Twice counting tonight?"

"Tonight makes three," Danny conceded. Then he corrected himself. "For me." He paused again. "Sasha has a ... thing about hospitals. It has to do with what happened when she was in China."

"She does know how babies are born?" Kara asked, immediately regretting her snap comment.

But Danny merely chuckled. "Pretty sure she's trying to talk the Admiral into a homebirth. It's going poorly."

Kara could imagine. Still, it was strange, sometimes, hearing Danny talk about Sasha or Azima. After serving with Tex and Wolf on the Nathan James, Kara knew both men well enough to consider them friends and, in Tex's case, Kara's friendship with Andrea elevated the relationship to family. But Kara rarely interacted with either Sasha or Azima, not wanting to cross the invisible lines that she and Danny had established. Now, though, it felt odd to know so little about people who were so important to Danny. Perhaps she should make more of an effort to get to know them — even if the idea of going on a double-date with Sasha and Tom was fairly horrifying.

"Is it strange?" Kara asked, before quickly explaining. "Sasha being pregnant, I mean. It has to change things without her in the field."

Again Danny was quiet. "Sasha's a workaholic. I knew they were seeing the doctor but I never really pictured her with a baby. Now..."

Danny trailed off and Kara prompted. "Now?"

"With Christian Vargas locked up, she's talking about moving into analytics. A desk job, basically." Danny glanced sideways, and Kara could see his exhaustion reflected in his eyes. A combination of sleep deprivation and the pills kicking in, Kara assumed. "I didn't want to say anything until it was official but, if that happens, Delta will disband. Tex is ready to retire and Slattery offered both Wolf and me instructor positions. Azima won't confirm what she's doing next but I know Pablo was trying to recruit her."

Kara blinked, stunned by the news. "But you love being out in the field. You said that you could never imagine riding a desk."

"Still can't," Danny replied, moving to shrug and then wincing. "But there's no official SEAL training program right now. Slattery is hoping to get something up and running. Even said that I could move the program here to Mayport if I wanted. Best of both worlds, honestly. I'll be running training exercises all day and at home most nights. Plus, it means that you don't have to leave the James."

Reaching out, Kara picked up Danny's hand, feeling her chest tighten. "I talked to Mike yesterday. Told him that I wanted to move to a full time desk job."

Danny frowned, pausing to study her face. "Are you sure? I remember you saying once that the day you became Captain of the Nathan James was the best day of your life."

"It was then." Kara smiled, lifting a hand to touch his cheek. "But things change and this is what I want."

A year ago, Kara could never have imagined making this choice — not voluntarily — and she wasn't going to pretend that it had been easy. But there wasn't a doubt in Kara's mind that this was the right decision. The girls had been through too much already in their short lives. They needed to know who was going to take them to school, what they were going to eat for dinner, and where they were going to sleep at night.

All of the things that Kara didn't have growing up.

Kara knew that she didn't need to be the one here to take care of those things, but she wanted to be the one who did them. Both for the girls, and for herself.

Because for the first time in years, Kara was happy.

Mike hadn't seemed surprised when she formally requested a transfer to desk duty. He hadn't argued at all — even though Kara knew that he was the one who would have to deal with Reiss's displeasure. The combination of the Nathan James and one of the Vaccine Six was diplomatic gold, and Reiss exploited that every chance he got. Carlton would make an excellent captain, but he didn't have the same star quality as Kara.

She returned her head to Danny's shoulder. "Mike is going to promote Carlton."

"He'll make a good captain."

Kara considered waiting, knowing that Danny had to be feeling the effects of everything he had gone through today, but she had done that too many times before. "I'll be doing more diplomatic work, so there isn't much travel involved. We could make it work, if you didn't want to go the instructor route."

Danny twisted his head until their eyes met. "Do you remember what I said back in Brazil? How I got so wrapped up in fighting that I forgot why I was fighting? Who I was fighting for? I'm not going to make that mistake again. What I want is to be here with you and the girls ."

Feeling tears threaten, Kara reached up a hand to touch Danny's face. "You, Danny Green, are a good man."