Chapter 40

The rest of the hike to the plane happened without incident, at least that was until they got to the edge of the base and had to hope that Davis managed to get her plan into place that allowed them to sneak across the open field towards the tarmac and onto the ramp of their plane. Only then can they take a breather, take in the full extent of Clay's injuries with more equipment and then set course for their final destination.

"Ok, Davis should be on the plane with the rest of the support staff. We have to haul ass to get there. Undetected." Blackburn looked at Jason, low on confidence, not in the team, not in the plan but in the chance this final stretch would go as planned, for once.

"Piece of cake." Jason grinned. They were getting their kid on that plane and home in one piece, hell or high water. He liked a challenge, but sometimes the wonder twins gave him a little too much, resulting in way too many grey hairs on his head. They owe him for the years he lost and are sure to keep losing, keeping their unlucky asses out of trouble.

"Jase, he's starting to stir. I do not want to risk it and pray he stays quiet coming too. We got to move." Trent whispered out from behind them.

"He always has the worst timing." Sonny huffed, shaking his head and gripping his rifle tighter as Liz leaned closer toward Clay and put her hand on his shoulder.

"On three," Jason whispered out and held up his hand to start his count down as the team slowly tensed up, ready to get up from their crouch and book it towards their safe space once Jason's fingers counted to three.

One. Two. Three.

It was time to get the hell out of here.

As the team started to run and make it just past the halfway mark, Davis popped her head out of the cover of the plane where the ramp opened up, waiting for the boots of her men. Clay also then decided it was a wonderful moment to fully wake up and well-being in his fevered state; he really was in the mood to cause chaos for the team.

As Sonny and Ray held onto the stretcher where Clay's head was, Trent and Jason were not positioned at the feet; the Blonde SEAL decided to start thrashing around, making things very difficult. The latter began to slip from everyone's grips, and panic flashed across their eyes. Followed by dread.

Things were about to get interesting.

"Clay! Stay still." Jason harshly whispered. "NOW."

"Hey, blondie, you got to stop moving," Sonny added, hoping a more calming tone would help as Clay was not in his suitable head space. Orders always got his attention in this state, especially from Jason, but today he was not their normal Clay. No one knew who they had right now in their latter as he had not been conscious enough to give them anything since they brought him back to life.

As expected, none of their words directed towards him did anything, and his thrashing got worse as his eyes popped open and he tried to focus on the faces turned towards him.

Blackburn and Brock, led by Cerb, turned back towards Jason with worried looks on their faces but continued leading the group to that much-needed enclosed plane. As Cerb pulled harder, spotting Davis, Brock stumbled a bit with a grunt catching Blackburn's attention.

Blackburn shook his head with a slight chuckle, "Looks like someone else is a little eager to get their boy out of here."

"Im surprised he is not grabbing that litter and dragging him back himself."

Behind them, they heard more scuffling and whispers landing on deaf ears. Clay was now fully awake.

Ten feet away.

"Clay, please stop moving. We are almost there." Ray pleaded.

"Peter Pan. You have to chill out." Sonny barked, losing patience as he was, at this point, overly tired and frustrated that he could not help his best friend and get him back home safely. He could never be frustrated at his friend; this time, his frustrations were focused on himself. He let his friend down, resulting in him dying on his watch: heart-stopping, no-breathing death. The image of him lying there, pale and unmoving, was haunting. He would not get that out of his head for a long time. A pale blonde face would haunt his dreams for quite some time. But it was his mission now not to leave his side and get him back in full health.

Five feet away.

Two feet away.

"AARRGGGG!"

Finally, in the cover of the plane, nothing but organized chaos erupted. Trent barked orders as the team brought Clay to the medical stretcher at the back of the aircraft while Blackburn beelined it to Davis to get a full report and headcount as the order for the ramp to be raised got barked out by Jason.

" Talk to me, Trent." Jason barked out as he stopped himself and shook his head with a nod of apology that Trent took way too quickly.

No one held Jason's mood against him, and knew he always became a bit touchy when his two "children" got injured. And no one ever took his harsh tone to heart, knowing it was panic and worry that Jason refused to show his team, but there was always the crack in his words he denied with every fibre of his body. When he was in Bravo 1 mode, he was a rock, but those cracks always tried to peek through, and ninety percent of them peeked around, but only those close to him would catch it. When he was Jason, he wore his heart on his sleeve for every emotion all his team members made him feel. And then that can turn into a loose cannon they all prepare for, and Ray is always there to put the pieces back together, and then Clay and Liz, without knowing, seem to put the mud and concrete on those broken pieces solidifying the heart of the one and only Jason Hayes.

As Clay screamed till his throat went hoarse out of fear and pain, he thrashed around, slowly losing his consciousness as the darkness tried to pull him back down again.

"God, can he please just pass out." Sonny cried out, miserable seeing his friend in pain.

"His pain meds are wearing off, and he is not coming down from the adrenaline from everything. The fever seems stable, but I will need another round of meds. He will not be himself for a while, and I can't give him much more pain meds since his breathing is so shallow. I don't want to risk losing him again. I don't know what the drowning or any internal damages did to him, and if I give him too much, he could code." Trent rambled off, shaking his head as he froze momentarily, watching Clay tense up and cry in pain. All he could do right now was change out his IV and give him another shot for the fever and half a dose of morphine for the pain and try to get him still enough to do a better exam and pray it was not worse than what he had seen in the field.

"Can we give him anything else to knock him out?" Sonny pleaded as Trent shook his head.

"Liz, come here and help hold him down; Sonny, get his other shoulders and Brock his feet. Cerb, can you please shift over a bit? I need to walk here. Jase, I need ten mikes, and then he should be ready to take off. I think I can get him stable enough to get back home. It will be a long flight to a military hospital; I think he would be more comfortable being home if it were only a few hours more. It will be a hard fight for him no matter what." Trent ordered as he winced each time Clay cried out in pain or tried to gurgle some incoherent words.

As everyone moved into place upon Trent's direction, the team got to work. Liz slinked into her spot alongside Sonny and could not take her eyes off Clay. His face was red and scrunched in pain as his body tensed up and seemed to spasm randomly. He did stop crying out, and now the noises that slipped through his mouth were small moans and grunts of pain and whimpers that broke her heart.

Sonny looked up at her as he took the side Clay was not injured in, ready to brace himself for the random strength Clay seemed to muster up out of nowhere when he was wounded and always tried his one last hurrah. As his eyes connected with Liz, his heart broke in two, watching her break inside alongside himself with every moan.

"Clay, hey, we are here. You need to stay still and let Trent get you patched up." Liz cooed out as she took his injured arm in her hand, held it still with little strength, and placed her other hand on Clay's mop of hair as she slowly stroked and ran her nails over his scalp. "Please."

With that final plea, Clay's bloodshot blue eyes shot open and met Liz as a small cry came from his lips, and he slowly stilled.

"Ok, Liz keep him calm; Sonny, hold him tight." Trent got out as he took a silent moment and then set to work, ultimately clearing Clay of all his clothes except his boxers as he wanted to keep some decency for Liz and Davis. With his pale and dirty body fully exposed and in a good light, Trent sucked in a breath and pinched his eyes closed only for a second; as he opened them, he was in full medic mode. The body in front of him was severely damaged, and his job was to patch it up. At this moment, this was not Clay, the young, arrogant SEAL that slipped his way into everyone's hearts. This was an injured SEAL that needed to make it home, and his job was to get him there. The emotions must be put on the back burner until they are wheels up and Clay is stable and heading back. The rest of the team can be in their emotions for themselves and him. "Brock, more pressure on that right leg."

As the team hovered around, paced or gawked silently around him, the three members worked overtime to keep Clay calm, but Liz was taking that role solely on herself and acing it. Clay's eyes were glassed over with fever, but in this state, he did not seem to recognize anyone around him, but as fate intervened, he somehow seemed to know she was his lifeline. His other half, and he needed her. So his eyes never left hers, and her soothing words did not seem to register in his brain as actual sentences but seemed to keep him calm. Everything about Liz being by his side drew him in and kept his attention, and Trent was overly thankful his two young team members went against all rules and could not keep their connection hidden no matter how much they tried. They seemed to live in their world, unaware that everyone on Bravo and their support knew the fatal attraction they shared and could not deny.

"Trent, that bruising looks bad along his chest and ribs," Brock mumbled as he examined Clay's body full of blood, bandages and bruises.

"He's in for a long road. Let's get to work."