Author's Note: We're saying goodbye to Brock and Metal for a bit to allow Trent and Sonny time to shine, but they will be back. This is where I started unintentionally turning myself into a Trent fangirl, whoops. This was also the first scene I wrote cause I don't write my stories in order. That sometimes causes characterization problems (it definitely did here), which in turn creates more work that I have to go back and edit. It's a terrible way to do it, would not recommend it.

Chapter 8: The Escape

It was light out when Feiyaz woke up again.

She came to slowly, her eyes trying and failing to focus on items around the unfamiliar room. Still a hospital, but definitely not a military base.

The memories came trickling back - she'd been on a plane home. Virginia Beach.

"Hey there," came a gentle voice from her right, and she startled. How had she not noticed someone was sitting next to the bed?

"Hey," she croaked painfully and winced, thankful when Jason held out a cup of water with a straw for her to drink from. Her head thumped back against the pillow after taking a few sips and she sighed. "How long was I out this time?"

"We touched down about four hours ago, nine a.m. local time. Trent had to give you an extra dose for the plane, so you might still feel a little groggy."

She nodded slowly in agreement. Her brain was definitely in a fog, though it had been for days. It was getting a little old not being able to figure out up from down. They sat in comfortable silence while Feiyaz continued to wake up, her thoughts becoming a little more clear with each passing minute.

"We got Zaman," Jason said suddenly. He didn't miss her involuntary flinch at the name, but he felt it was important for her to know the outcome of the man that had caused so much pain and anguish. "Charlie team brought him back alive, if not a little bloody. He's currently with our friends at the CIA enjoying the best they have to offer. Rest assured, he's going to suffer for what he did."

"Good," came the quiet reply, her eyes focused on her lap as she picked at the skin where her fingernails used to be on her left hand. Brows furrowed, another thought coming to her. "Did you find his wife, Amira? Was she there?"

With a shake of his head, Jason leaned back in the rigid chair with a scowl. "No, no signs of her. We think Zaman discovered her plan to leave and likely killed her."

Feiyaz sighed and closed her eyes, grief and guilt flooding her. Damn, she had gotten an innocent woman killed. A woman that had confided in her about being afraid of her new husband, about wanting an escape. And all for what? Her and two others tortured and a guy in custody that would likely take his secrets to the grave. They had nothing.

"Hey, this isn't on you." Jason leaned forward, a stern tone matching his facial expression. "This is on me, okay? I made the call. I should have put together a more concrete plan."

Behind her eyelids, she withdrew from the conversation as Jason continued to take the blame for everything that had gone wrong. She didn't blame him though, and she wanted to tell him that, to give him words of encouragement to help him feel better. But she just didn't have the energy. She was so tired, and the self-loathing was seeping into her mind and clouding everything.

"-and then none of this would have happened."

She opened her eyes, a sadness lingering in her gaze as she finally looked up at him.

"It's nobody's fault," she replied softly, hoping he would believe the lie she couldn't believe herself. "You don't have to be here." A sad smile quirked at one end of her mouth. "I'm sure you've got better things to do. I'll be okay."

Jason leaned forward, guilt trip momentarily forgotten. "I'm not going anywhere right now. And when I do need to leave, someone else from Bravo team will take my place. You're not alone, Yazi."

Alone is exactly what she wanted to be at the moment, and she resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance. She just wanted some time on her own, awake, to decompress and get lost in her feelings. There was a good cry in her near future.

He saw the look of frustration on her face and opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off as the door opened. A young nurse waltzed in with a smile, placing the items in her hands down on the rolling tray table near the bed.

"Hello, Petty Officer. My name is Jill, I'll be looking after you this afternoon. How are you feeling?" Her tone was bright and cheerful as she looked at her patient expectantly for an answer.

"Feiyaz," the woman corrected, indicating she didn't want to be addressed by her rank. "And I'm feeling groggy."

The nurse nodded, moving over to the IV line hanging at the head of the bed. "That's to be expected with all those sedatives they've been giving you. We'll push some extra fluids and get you something to eat. That'll help clear the fog." She turned to Jason, her polite tone now a little more firm. "I'm going to change her bandages. You'll need to wait outside."

Jason stood from the chair obediently. "I'll just go grab a coffee, check in on Brock. You good, Yazi?"

She nodded softly, not making eye contact in case he could see that she was happy to have him kicked out for a while. After the door closed behind him, she let out a sigh of relief, causing the nurse to chuckle.

"A bit of a mother hen, is he?" she asked, a conspiratorial grin on her face as she moved back to her tray of supplies and began opening packages.

"Every time I wake up, someone is sitting there and they're asking me questions and expecting me to talk and I just…" Feiyaz trailed off, her eyes going to her hands again. "I'm exhausted and I need some space."

"May I?" Jill asked, motioning to the bandage on Feiyaz's upper arm. When consent was acquired, the nurse began peeling off the tape. "Have you told them you want some space?"

Feiyaz shook her head slowly, a look of guilt bleeding onto her face. "They're trying to be nice. They feel bad everything happened on their watch."

"Honey, fuck how they feel." Jill stopped what she was doing to look down at her patient sternly. "This isn't about them, this is about you and what you went through. If you need to be alone for a minute to deal with that, then you should get to be alone."

Feiyaz cracked a small smile at the blunt response, wholeheartedly agreeing with what she said. "That would cause a huge fight. I don't have the energy to take on Bravo team right now."

Smiling down at her, Jill got back to work cleaning the stitched laceration. "Well, lucky for you, I'm full of energy. I tell you what - I'll break the news to your biggest fan when he gets back that you're not up for visitors. We'll see how long the nurses can stonewall them for you before they pick a real fight."

With a furrowed brow, Feiyaz looked up at her curiously. "You can do that?"

Jill laughed as she applied a clean gauze over the wound and taped it back up. "Our charge nurse loves a good cause, hun. And this will add a little excitement to our day." She gave the woman a dramatic wink and moved on to the next bandage.

Thirty minutes later, Jason was pacing up and down the hall outside Feiyaz's room waiting to be allowed back in. He'd popped in to see Brock, who was awake and smiling as Sonny kept him entertained.

The door opened and nurse Jill exited, closing the door behind her and smiling at him politely. "I'm afraid Feiyaz won't be able to have any visitors today. She needs to rest."

Brows furrowed, Jason put a hand on his hip and looked down at her. "I can sit quietly while she rests. She doesn't need to be left alone right now."

"Actually, she does." Jill took a step forward, not intimidated by the large man in front of her. After working several years in the military hospital as a civilian, she had grown immune to the testosterone running wild in these men. "What happened to her was horribly traumatic and personal. She has decided she needs some alone time to deal with that while it's still sitting so fresh with her." Her expression turned sympathetic as she saw the frustration grow on Jason's face, and she reached out to touch his arm softly. "There will be a time soon when she needs you guys to support her. But right now, she can't even remember everything that happened to her. She needs time to figure it out for herself. We'll look after her for a few days, then you can swoop in and be the big heroes when she's ready."

Jason sighed in resignation but nodded his head. "Yeah, you're probably right."

She smiled wider as he seemed to be on board with the plan, at least for now. Using the hand on his arm, she turned him in the direction of the elevators at the end of the hall. "Sounds like there is a team member of yours on the fourth floor you can smother instead."

Trent pulled into the lot of the Navy hospital, parked his SUV next to a large black truck, and got out.

"Hey there, Doctor Doom," Sonny said, holding out a second cup of coffee to the team medic. "What's the plan? She got Jace kicked out, so what, are we just gonna lurk outside her room like stray puppies?"

"If we have to," Trent replied as they made their way into the hospital. "I'm hoping Jason just came on too strong and you can use your Texan charm to give us a chance to hang out, even just for a bit."

Brock had been discharged the morning prior after a three-day stay and was now comfortably resting at home with Clay to watch over him. That left the rest of the team to focus their attention back on their temporary charge.

"Doesn't she have any family that should be here worrying over her?"

In a drug-induced haze after having another nightmare prior to his discharge, Brock had let slip to Trent that Feiyaz had nothing to come home to. Though he kept the revelation to himself as it wasn't his business to spread, Trent felt the need to step in and provide her some backup. "I think we're it."

Sonny's brows furrowed as they got on the elevator to go to the fifth floor. "Well then, guess we'll have to keep bugging her whether she wants us to or not."

"It's so important for her to have a support system at this stage of her healing," the medic said, very concerned for someone he deemed to be in his care, official Bravo team or not. "She has a long road ahead of her dealing with what happened. Feelings of loneliness and depression can spiral out of control real quick."

They approached her room cautiously, ready to deal with an angry and dismissive Feiyaz. Instead, the bed was empty and perfectly made, as though nobody had occupied it in a while. Exchanging looks, they headed back to the nurses' station in search of information.

"Excuse me," Trent said to the woman behind the large desk. "We're looking for Feiyaz Amani. Was she moved?"

The woman gave an exasperated sigh to the pair. "She checked herself out this morning, against medical advice."

Sonny made a face of confusion as he rubbed his beard. "Can you even do that in a Navy hospital?"

Trent ignored the comment, leaning his forearms on the tall countertop in front of him. "I'm the team medic. We'll go find her. Did someone at least come pick her up?"

The nurse nodded, though she didn't look impressed. "The only way for her to be able to leave was to have someone pick her up and agree to look after her. We were hoping we could use that to keep her here, but then this neighbor shows up and swears he's going to stay with her. He was a kid, looked like he could barely take care of himself."

Sighing, Trent shook his head in annoyance. "I know you can't tell me much, but anything you can that might be helpful would be great."

The nurse looked around for any supervisors that might yell at her and saw none. "You'll need to keep an eye on the surgical site on her abdomen, and she has bandages that will need changing. Her shoulder and knee will likely still be bothering her and will need some rehab soon to make sure she's easing back into using them properly as they heal." She grabbed a card with the physical therapy department's information. "You can call and schedule her an appointment, she wouldn't schedule anything this morning. She'll also need to come back in early next week for a once-over if she wants any chance at getting medically cleared. And she'll need this." The nurse slid a second card over to them, for a psychologist. "I would recommend this therapist in particular for her situation," she said, the meaning behind her words fairly clear to the men.

"Got it, thank you." Trent slipped the two cards into his pocket. "We'll make sure to get those appointments scheduled."

"And we'll drag her in by the hair if she doesn't want to come," Sonny added helpfully.

The SEALs nodded their thanks and headed back towards the elevator with a purpose. "Looks like we have a mission, Bravo Four," Sonny said, almost giddy. "Do we need the rest of the team?"

"Let's not go overboard just yet," Trent replied. "First off, do we know where she lives?"

"No, but I bet Lisa can find out." They spent the next few minutes standing in the parking lot while Sonny convinced Lisa that this potentially life-or-death situation was worth breaking some rules.

They pulled out of the lot soon after and headed on a ten-minute drive to an apartment complex in a quiet part of town. Parking, they got out of their respective vehicles and Trent grabbed his emergency medkit from the backseat.

"Just in case," he said as Sonny gave him a wary glance. They headed into the building and took the elevators to the fifth floor, getting out and following the signs to apartment 506.

Sonny took the liberty of immediately banging on the door. "Open up, your traveling doctors have arrived!" Trent sent him a sideways glare at the raucous greeting, but the Texan paid him no attention. They stood there for a minute but heard no movement from inside, prompting Sonny to knock even harder. "Yazi, it's Sonny and Trent, open up!"

"We just want to make sure you're okay," Trent added in a softer tone. Another few moments passed in silence and the guys started to get worried. "The neighbor brought her home, right? Not to his place?"

Looking up and down the hall at the number of doors they'd potentially have to knock on, Sonny sighed in frustration. "I'm going to the truck for my lockpick set before we have to start hunting for this mystery neighbor." He was gone before Trent could object to the illegal breaking and entering, but then again, this could be a medical emergency.

Trent turned back to the door and knocked forcefully again, hoping she was just asleep. "Feiyaz! It's Trent!"

A door opened, but not the one he was banging on. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Trent spun around on his heel to face a young man with stringy long hair and a glazed expression. Oh, this was definitely the neighbor that had left the nurse unimpressed. "Are you the one that brought Feiyaz home this morning?"

"Yeah…" the stoner said slowly, confusion and stupidity all over his face. Trent pointed at the door behind him, silently asking if she'd been left at her own place. "Yeah…" the neighbor said again.

"You were supposed to stay with her. She should still be at the hospital, dammit." Trent clenched his free hand, trying to remain calm.

"Woah dude, I don't know what's going on. She just said she'd give me fifty bucks if I picked her up and told them I'd be her caretaker."

Trent stared at the man incredulously, his anger growing. "And you didn't think that was suspicious when you were picking her up from a hospital of all places?!" he asked loudly, taking a step forward. "She could be in serious danger right now."

The neighbor shrunk back from the sailor, eyes wide and hands held up innocently. "She didn't give me details, man. We're not even that close."

Sonny took that moment to come jogging off the elevator and down the hall, his confusion at the situation turning to concern as he saw the expression on Trent's face. "This the guy?"

"She paid him to pick her up, which means she's in there alone and unresponsive. Get the door open now." The medic turned back to the neighbor with an uncharacteristic glare. "If something has happened to her because you decided to be an idiot, today is going to end badly for you."

Visibly gulping, the stoner pulled himself back into the apartment and quickly shut the door.

"Got it," Sonny said as the lock clicked open. He stood up and opened the door, entering with Trent right behind him. There was no sign of her in the living room or kitchen, so the medic headed for the bedroom, doing a stutter-step in the doorway as he saw Feiyaz in the bed. At first glance, she appeared to just be sleeping. But the pill bottle on her bedside table and the fact that their chaotic knocking hadn't roused her left Trent concerned. He tossed the orange bottle to Sonny and told him to count as he sat on the side of the bed to inspect his patient.

"Yaz?" he asked in a firm tone, trying to wake her. "Can you hear me?" He reached out a hand to check her pulse, glad to find it strong if not a little erratic. Pulling out a penlight, he checked her pupils for reaction. The sluggish dilation told him that she wasn't in immediate danger but was definitely under the influence of strong narcotics.

"I count twenty-nine," Sonny said, a question in his voice. "That's good, right?"

Trent sighed but nodded. "Means she only took one or two extra depending on the supply they gave her when she left this morning. Probably got home in a world of hurt after the overexertion of getting here and figured a little extra wouldn't hurt. Assuming she also had a dose of pain meds before she checked out, there's a good amount of narcotics in her system right now. Not dangerous enough to take her back in, but we definitely need to keep an eye on her." He reached out to take the bottle from Sonny. "Think I'll be keeping these with me for now just in case."

They headed back into the living room, pulling the door closed a bit behind them. Sonny moved into the kitchen. "Well, if we're gonna hole up here for a while, we need provisions." He peeked into the refrigerator and found only liquids and condiments. "Grocery store it is."

"I'll make you a list."