6 hours after meeting with Athena and sending a text to Maddie requesting she meet her at home as soon as possible, Buck had made dinner, fed her kids bathed them and was going through their nighttime story when she heard Eddie pull into the driveway.

She finished the page. She was reading and closed the book.
She gave Chris a kiss on his curls. And tucked the boy in before she went to greet her husband.

And A- shift it would seem.

She gazed at Eddie, eyebrow raised, and was met with a shrug in return.

With a return shrug, she kissed Eddie in greeting, before gesturing the team and Athena and Maddie into the house.

"Have you eaten?"

"We have, but I don't believe Eddie has," Bobby replied as he took a seat next to his wife, and the rest of the team took seats as well.

With a look at Eddie back turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen. They could all hear her move about for a moment. She came back carrying a tray with a plate of chili con corn and tortillas, and a glass with peach iced tea and cubes of ice, which she gave to Eddie.

"Gracias Carina. ¿Los niños duermen?(Are the kids sleeping)"

"Si. Hace unos diez minutos que se acostaron"(Yes. They went to bed about ten minutes ago.)

"Bien"(Good) Eddie said as he started eating.

Once Buck had made drinks for everyone she took Eddie's dishes to the kitchen and left it to soak in the sink.
Coming back she noted the tension that hung over everyone and the pinched look over her man's face. Taking further stock she noted her man was tense and deeply lost in thought.
With a shake of her head, she kneeled down in front of Eddie, causing his head to move to her, a look of question in his eyes, while the team watched her deeply curious.

Buck shook her head as she laid her hand on his knee for a brief squeeze before she went about untying his bootlaces, taking his shoes and socks off, and stuffing the socks into his shoes, she gave his calves a brief rub and murmured " relax amor", before standing up.

"Relax?", he scoffed, "That's why you look like you are preparing to wage war, and why you swapped out your wedding ring for the field one you haven't worn in four years?" he asked as he gazed intently at her left hand. The team saw the normal 2 piece silver bands that normally adorned her long slender fingers had been replaced with a wide black silicone one, much like the one Eddie wore during shift to avoid anything happening to the silver band he currently wore.
The team and Maddie all waited with bated breath as they looked to Buck for her answer.

"What did you expect Eddie? I'm not gonna sit on my ass and wait for these bastards to get the drop on me and hurt my babies or you. So yes. I made some changes. If need be I don't want the ring to reflect the sun and give away my position. I also don't want to get in a fight and damage the ring. And you can bet your fine ass I am packing more than normal."

"So how do you propose I relax? Ev, you have somebody, maybe more than one somebody out there hunting you. This was supposed to stay in the desert. Haven't you given enough? Done enough? Bled enough?" Eddie asked, upset and anger sparking in his eyes.

"Eds…"

"Guys? Stop. Please?" Maddie asked with a tremble in her voice.
Buck and Eddie turned to the 118 family and saw everyone watching them with concern and fear in their eyes.

With a sigh, Buck sat down on the arm of Eddie's chair, her hip pressed close to Eddie's shoulder, while Eddie raised his arm and draped it across her legs.

"Ok, Mads. you're right this isn't helping. The 118 knows this, but to bring you up to speed. Someone grabbed a SEAL about a week ago. He was found this morning. The body was badly beaten and there is a clear indication of the man being interrogated and tortured and then killed. Detectives on the scene found a message addressed to me and a photo of me from my navy days tacked to the body."

"Oh my!", Maddie gasped as she listened to her sister talk. "That's horrible!"

"Yeah well, horrible though it may be. It's not gonna end there. He was just the messenger. And unfortunately for him, a dead message is still a message. So priority one is getting a full identification. From there we see what the common denominator would be and where we crossed paths."

"What if it was just a random guy who got grabbed and it's just a coincidence that he is a SEAL," Chim asked looking hopeful.

"Wasn't a random grab Chim. This was planned and calculated. Our SEAL crossed paths with me somehow and somewhere. We figure out where and I'll know what mission I'm dealing with and who the players involved are."

"And what if you don't remember?" Hen asked, curious.

"Some things you just don't forget Hen. Missions are one of them. I remember all my missions, in one way or another."

"So we wait? And in the meantime, you are going to be walking around like you are on a mission in enemy territory, instead of your own home." Athena muttered, glancing at the woman's leg pointedly.

Before Buck could respond there was a muted ding that echoed through the room, followed by a buzzing sound coming from the table in front of them. Upon closer look, the team saw a big bulky-looking brick and realized it was some kind of phone.

Buck reached over and took the device, glancing at the display, she answered the phone. "Viper" she snapped out waiting for a reply.

"Might have something for you", her old CO replied, not bothered by the cold snap of her voice.

"What did you get?"

"A SEAL by the name of Micheal James Lennox went missing last Thursday. The family reported him missing on Friday. Report said the family- wife, and parents all stated he was not known to disappear at all. He was a man set in his ways and routines. He worked as an architect. He would go to work and be home by 1800 hours."

"Ok. How sure are we that it is our guy?"

"Very sure. His DNA pinged in AFDIL"

"That's something. But what makes him our guy?" Buck asked.

"You might remember him by his codename 'Knight'. We worked on a mission about 8 years ago. His team was our recon team. Mission in Cameroon." her CO replayed.

"Wait a second. I think I remember this. We got sent in to pull out an ambassador and his family. We spent a couple of days trekking through the jungle skirting by those rebels. Why him though? That mission was as straightforward as they came. In and out. We had some dings, but we didn't even lose anyone."

There was a moment of silence before her CO spoke.

"No, we didn't lose anyone. But Knight and his team ran into some patrols. Four-man team. Knight and his team ran into some resistance and four men were eliminated. But Viper, the oldest of the rebels, was nineteen years old."

"So… this is what? Revenge for the death of those four soldiers…kids, really? We had nothing to do with that. We never even fired our weapons."

"Maybe not but someone who knew one of those four boys blamed Knight and by extension the team who extracted the ambassador and his family. Which would be us."

"Ok. well why target just me? You were there too… wait a second," Buck from off, lost in thought. "No. The photo. Aside from Columbus, everyone in that photo is still alive. You and the others could have targets on your back too. They might have started here because of, I assume, my proximity to Knight. We both live in LA."

"It's possible. You also need to take into account you were the only female on that mission." Smooth Dog mused.

"Great there is that too." Buck grumped.

"I'll see what else I can dig up kid."

"Copy that Smooth. Be safe and watch your six old man. And thanks"

After a moment of silence, Buck met Athen's gaze and said, "We might have a match on your John Doe. A Micheal James Lennox. Codename, Knight, a SEAL, popped up in the AFDIL database used to identify military remains. He went missing Thursday. Family reported him missing on Friday. LA resident from San Bernardino, not known for disappearing . About 8 years ago Knight was part of a Recon team sent out to scout the area. We got tapped for a mission in Cameroon. Things were heating up and the country was tipping dangerously close to another civil war due to the unrest and the US wanted their people out. Which meant evacuating the US ambassador and his family."

"Ok so what happened on this mission that would warrant backlash years later?" Athena questioned with a fiery glint of concern in her eyes.

"On our side? Nothing we got the ambassador and his family out without firing a single round that night. The whole OP took us about 5 hours start to finish once we hit the spent some time evading rebel forces after we got the packages out of the compound and into the jungle,but nothing more exciting than that. They didn't even know the ambassador and his family was out until about 6 hours after we left the country and had them on board the USS Abraham Lincoln." Buck said with a far off look in her eyes, as she recalled that day 8 years ago.

"Knight and his team, unfortunately ran into a rebel patrol group and they engaged with them
4 boys were killed. The oldest was 19. It could be that whoever is behind this only recently got what they needed to find us. Or only recently learned the reason behind the boys dying? I don't know. But it's a starting point. " Buck shrugged with a fierce look of determination behind her icy blue eyes.

"So some rebel outfit
from a civil war wants to kill you?" Maddie asked in horror.

"My guess? Based on what I saw of Knight…They will be doing more than just killing people. There was anger in that beating. They will be looking for the extreme amount of pain as a former of revenge." Buck replied quietly, leaving the 118 to fear the danger their friend was in might be more than she or they could handle.