Goodnight, Trouble
"Jason!"
Bravo's senior members were finishing up their last drink at Trent's kitchen table, when they all turned at the sound of their panicked kid, calling for Jason from the bedroom.
"Jason," Clay cried out pitifully. "Where are you?"
"Nightmare," Trent sighed at Jason who was immediately out of his seat and heading back toward the spare room to hopefully settle his kid.
"You think he's spiking a fever?" Sonny said, leaning back in his chair and watching his always prepared brother going for his worn out medical bag.
"Oh, we can probably count on that," Trent said. "Once the boss has him calmed down, I'll check him out. Get him cooled down, medicated and back to sleep. Twenty minutes tops. Jason already has the squawking under control."
"He's getting better at the baby wrangling," Sonny laughed. "And it's a damn good thing, because as I have said many times before, this boy is a full fucking time job."
"No lies detected there, brother," Trent chuckled, heading back to see how Jason was doing with the kid.
When Bravo's medic entered his famous spare room, as expected, the runt was contained. The desk lamp was on and Clay was curled up against his chosen daddy's chest, wrapped up in Bravo One's strong arms. He was shivering and rambling which was no surprise to Trent who was a master at dealing with late-night spiking fevers. And the undisputed go-to sick kid tamer.
"How's it going in here?" Trent shook his head, making eye contact with his boss and longtime brother.
"Well," Jason reported calmly. "I'm not going to mention any names. But someone we all know and love has cooked himself up a pretty impressive fever. And said someone, has himself a little worked up. He's feeling very confused and loopy, but we're working together here to take the panic down a few notches."
"Hmm," Trent said, approaching the bed and peeling the kid off of his current protector's chest to get a better look. "Oh yeah, hot stuff. This is going to require a quick soak in Uncle Trent's tub."
Trent produced the 'open up and under your tongue' from out of nowhere which caused the pouting brat to snap his mouth closed and give him the death stare.
Trent stared right back with zero emotion.
"Heads or tails, honey," Trent said mildly. "Player's choice. It's all the same to me."
Jason rolled his eyes, shaking his head slowly at his stubborn boy.
"Clay," he said firmly. "You should surely know by now that your Uncle Trent does not bluff, and he does not bargain when it comes to getting his boys sorted out. So I'm going to strongly advise before I go to run you a nice cool bath, that you open up and mind your best fixer before you find yourself ass over teakettle with a cold thermometer sticking out your back door."
Clay held out for maybe five more seconds before Trent reached in his bag to retrieve the much dreaded other option aka, the 'turn over and start counting'.
"Okay, okay," Clay sat up quickly, opening his mouth wide.
"Yeah," Trent said mildly. "That's what I thought."
"I had a bad dream, Trent," the fevered boy said quietly, looking up at his favorite uncle once his temp was confirmed to be spiking and the medic was stripping him down to his boxer briefs. "I thought Jason didn't want me anymore."
"Jason will always want you, baby," Trent said gently, wrapping the sick kid in his arms from behind to stop his shivering. "It's been a long, hard week for everyone. And today was a bad one for both you and the boss. So how about you get your little tail into the bathroom and let your boss-daddy get you cleaned up and cooled down while I change up these sweaty sheets for something a little less smelly and germy."
"Am I getting more shots, Trent?" the kid turned up his best puppy eyes. "I don't want more shots."
"Your sad face is top shelf, honey," Trent teased. "But you have two tush shots and a back rub to help you get some sleep coming your way after your bath. And I promise it's going to make you feel so much better. So how about you get yourself into the bathroom before the boss comes looking for you?"
"Yes, sir," Clay groaned. He slowly moved to do as he was told, knowing full well that putting up a fuss would do him zero good and likely earn him a hard smack across his backside.
Once Sonny had the kitchen back in shape, he packed up Trent's garbage to drop at the curb on his way out to the truck.
"Alright, brother," Sonny yawned. "I trust you have everything under control. I will see you and the boss at work on Monday. Hopefully, the runt will be sorted and back to his naughty self."
"Thanks for taking him off my hands tonight," Trent said, taking a seat at his table looking worn out. "Jason's getting him tucked in. He offered to take him home, but I'm not confident this stomach bug won't hang on another day, so I want to keep him close. And after the unexpected visit from the big boss, followed by the sad brat spanking and marathon meeting with Ellis and her cronies, it's in all of our best interests to give the boss a much needed weekend in the kid-free zone."
"Well, brother," Sonny said. "You know where to find me if you need me."
"I surely do," Trent smiled up at his big-hearted brother. "Get some sleep. We all need it."
After Sonny left, Trent cleaned and disinfected his bathroom before taking a shower and getting himself ready for bed. Jason was still in the bedroom working on settling Clay who had been given his shots and was fighting a losing battle to stay awake. The kid's fever was slowly coming down, and thanks to the antiemetic, his stomach was relatively calm. But he was still upset after the nightmare, and stubbornly refusing to just let himself settle and sleep.
Jason was sitting next to his boy on the bed and leaning back against the wall delivering the promised back rub. Bravo One was exhausted, feeling his age, and ready for this horrendously long week to be officially over. Clay was turned on his side, curled up with his head in his new dad's lap, his fist wrapped tightly in Jason's shirt just in case his protector was thinking of suddenly jumping up and leaving him alone in the dark room.
"Jase?" Clay said softly.
"Hmm," Jason sighed, he was doing his best not to lose his patience with his sick kid for the second time in one day.
Bravo One knew that he had needed to let Clay have it good for the stunt he pulled on base that morning,but at the same time he hated having to punish him knowing that his acting out and intentional button pushing were a direct result of his horrendous childhood and repeated abandonment. Still, Jason knew that letting Clay get away with nonsense he would never put up with from Mikey or Emma was not going to do his boy any good long term.
And as Bravo's team leader, Jason knew that he could absolutely not tolerate Clay stepping out of line or causing even silly, immature trouble on base. Despite his age, Clay was expected to do the job of a tier-one operator. Allowing the kid to get away with fooling around at work could lead to issues in the field where every move they made could turn on a dime into a life or death situation.
As much as Jason didn't want to see Clay hurting, and he hated to have to punish any of his kids, Bravo One knew that sometimes it was necessary. And unfortunately for both Clay and himself, that morning had turned into one of those necessary times.
"Jase?" Clay whispered softly, knowing he was on thin ice, but needing reassurance that he was forgiven for his earlier behavior. Jason's youngest could not sleep without knowing that the man he loved and depended on for everything would never cut him loose - even when he was behaving like a naughty brat.
"I need you to close your eyes and go to sleep, son," Jason said firmly. "It's late, and we are all exhausted. Especially you, Sunshine."
"Please Jason," Clay begged, his voice wavering. "I just need to ask you one question. Then I promise I will be good and go to sleep."
Jason softened at the sound of his kid trying to hold back tears.
"You're always good, Sunshine," he said in a much softer tone. "And I'm going to give you one question, and one question only, Shorty. And then it is bedtime for you. Or else."
"Yes, sir," Clay said softly. "I promise."
"Go ahead," Jason sighed, still rubbing his boy's warm back. "What's this crucial question I need to answer before you close those big, blue eyes and head off to dreamland?"
"Is it true that when Brock's friends from when he was the rookie got in trouble for fighting, they got thrown off their team and sent to live in California?" Clay asked, sniffling.
'Fuck', Jason thought to himself. 'I'm going to strangle Sonny for the bedtime drama.'
"Sweetheart," Jason said gently. "That is a long story. The short version is that Brock and his friends were twenty-year-old supposed adults, old enough to know better. They were fighting in a bar which they thought would be no big deal, and it turned into a huge mess. Just like I've explained to you, it can happen quickly when you make bad choices."
"Sonny said you thought it was good they got sent away," Clay said.
"It was complicated, Clay," Jason explained. "I didn't think it was good. But it wasn't my decision to make, and I agreed with their boss after I heard his side of the story. Brock and his buddies learned a hard lesson. Just like you did today in the cages. There is zero tolerance for nonsense at work when you are a Navy SEAL. Our jobs are too important and dangerous for fooling around."
When Clay turned to bury his face in Jason's side, tightly clutching his shirt and trying hard not to lose it completely, Bravo One knew that no one in Casa Sawyer was going to be getting any sleep if he didn't answer his anxious boy's questions and take the time to reassure him that what happened with Brock and his friends before Clay was even on the scene was a completely different situation than what took place on base with Clay that morning.
"If I get in trouble again, do you think you might kick me off Bravo and send me away to another team?" Clay said quietly into his adopted father's shirt.
"Sit up, Sunshine," Jason sighed, forcing his kid to come out of his side and make eye contact. "I want you to listen to me carefully without interrupting. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Clay answered nervously, afraid of what Jason might be about to tell him.
"You are my kid," Jason said firmly, not breaking eye contact. "That is forever. I am never going to send you away no matter what trouble you might get yourself into. I love you, and I am never going to not want you."
"But you said, there is zero tolerance for nonsense at work when you are a Navy SEAL," Clay repeated what Jason had just told him.
"And you had better believe that I mean it, young man," Jason was using his sternest dad voice. "Today, you came as close as you have ever come to a very painful introduction to the spanking spoon. And if there is any more nonsense from you in the next month, I will most definitely be making that introduction. Do I sound like I'm bluffing, son?"
"No sir," Clay said quietly.
"Causing trouble at home will get you punished at home," Jason explained. "Just like Corey or Josh's kids are punished when they make bad choices. But the colonel and Josh are never going to send them away. Just like I'm never going to send you away from me."
"How do you know?" Clay asked desperately. "What if I make you really mad and you change your mind about me?"
"Never happening," Jason said with complete confidence. "No matter how crazy you might decide to make me."
"So then, I don't understand," Clay said honestly. "What does 'zero tolerance' mean?"
"I know this is a hard line to walk, son," Jason said honestly. "And I would never put you in this position if I had the power to change things."
"I don't want things to change," Clay said, his voice shaking.
"I know you don't want anything to change," Jason said, reaching out to gently stroke his boy's warm cheek. "And nothing about you being part of this family or part of Bravo is going to change."
Jason paused. He briefly considered just calling Trent in to translate, but as Clay's father and guardian, Jason knew he had to get this straight with Clay himself.
"Honey," Jason explained, softening his voice. "When I said that I wish I could change things, I meant that I wish you could be a regular kid, like Corey is now, and like Emma and Mikey were at your age. A kid who doesn't need to know anything about firing a sniper rifle or translating documents. A regular kid who can get on the bus with his friends and go to school instead of boarding a Navy transport plane to dangerous, scary places. But I know that's not how it is for you, so I need to take care of you, protect you, and make you understand that the expectations at home and at work are different."
"I know home is different from work," Clay said. "Everyone tells me that."
"Yeah well, Sunshine," Jason said, remaining calm. "Your mouth says you understand, but your behavior today clearly tells me that there is some confusion. And this is one area where we can not have any confusion or free passes."
Jason paused to let that sink in. And Clay kept his mouth shut, knowing that his boss who had also become his dad was not looking for his thoughts on the topic.
"At work, on base here or wherever we may be, I will not tolerate you acting up like a brat or doing childish things you think are funny. Period, young man," Jason said, most definitely meaning business. "Today you decided to test me. And we both know what happened."
"By now half the base probably knows what happened," Clay said softly. He was looking down, avoiding eye contact, pouting as he thought about facing everyone from the big bosses down to the kitchen staff on Monday when they returned to work.
"Oh, I'm sure you are right about that, son," Jason said lightly, having no intention of letting his kid off the hook, no matter how much seeing him upset and embarrassed hurt his heart.
Jason rested his hand on the side of his boy's face, gently tipping back his head to force eye contact Clay was trying to avoid.
"What happens on Bravo stays on Bravo. But when you act a fool at work on Friday, and get reminded that the consequences don't change, no matter who might hear the howling and run their mouths, I expect it will be an embarrassing walk of shame come Monday morning."
"It's not funny, Jase," Clay said quietly, tearing up. "I'm a Navy SEAL on the best tier-one team. And now everyone knows I got spanked like a kid by my boss-daddy. And I cried like a baby. Do you think guys outside our cage room heard me?"
"I'm guessing, based on the volume level you had cranked up throughout our painful discussion, that more than a few of your big brothers in the vicinity heard the show," Jason said honestly. "And as bad as I feel about punishing my baby and knowing I embarrassed you at work, if you think I am going to apologize for giving you the spanking you earned all on your own, it's not happening Clay."
"And that, honey," Jason explained calmly, "That is what zero tolerance for nonsense at work means for you. And it is completely different from what it means for SEALS like Brock's buddies who are in their twenties, and do not have a boss who is also their guardian at work, and their dad at home."
Maintaining eye contact and softly wiping away his youngest boy's exhausted tears with his thumb, Jason continued to talk softly.
"But you are still very much a child Clay, despite being a Navy SEAL on the best tier-one team," Bravo One explained. "And all the old guys with the bars on their uniforms, and all your big brothers who look out for you every day, including your buddy Ben in the kitchen who is definitely owed an apology - they all understood that you are still a kid long before our unfortunate business in my cage this morning. And I know that it won't make Monday any easier to face, but unlike you, they are adults. No one is sitting around this weekend thinking or talking about a sixteen-year-old boy who decided to break multiple rules and got his little tail worn out. And no one is going to tease you about it."
Jason pulled in his baby and kissed his warm head, giving him a quick hug.
"I guess that's the bright side of not having to show up at school on Monday when all the kids know your daddy scorched your backside in the principal's office on Friday," Jason smiled down at his kid who was clearly throwing himself a pity party.
"Still not funny, Jase," Clay whined.
"Still not apologizing, Trouble," Jason shrugged. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
Clay slumped back down against his hero and protector, turning to rest again against his side.
"What happened to Brock's friends after they got sent to California?" Clay asked, genuinely curious. "Are they still friends? I never hear Brock talk about them."
"Yes, Sunshine," Jason assured him. "Brock and The Wonder Twins are still friends. Brock went down to visit them out in California and to spend some time with his family shortly after they transferred."
"Do they like it out there?" Clay questioned, closing his eyes and curling into his dad's arms, resting his aching head on the older man's chest.
"It was a really hard consequence for all three of them to face," Jason said, sliding his hand up under his boy's shirt to rub his warm back and hopefully put him to sleep without having to get Trent out of bed.
"Was Brock really sad?" Clay mumbled, still fighting the sleep he needed.
"He was," Jason said truthfully. "But it turned out to be a good thing for them over time. Brock grew up a lot, and it was hard, but he came out okay. He met Katie, and we all know how that turned out."
"If Brock never met Katie," Clay whispered. "I wouldn't ever have been friends with Corey."
"Tommy and Kyle are fitting in on their new teams," Jason said. "It's a mix of young guys like them and older guys in their thirties and forties. They have brothers looking out for them, just like Bravo looks out for Brock. They both were back here for Brock and Katie's wedding. Tommy was Brock's best man. Team Eight threw him an epic bachelor party. Even Sonny and Metal were impressed."
"I love you so much, Jase," Clay said, holding tight to his shirt and not moving from his chest. "I'm really sorry I caused such a mess today. I understand better now about work and home. I promise I do. And I'm gonna go tell Ben first thing on Monday that I'm sorry for getting him in trouble. Sonny says you are working on getting over being mad, but you will never stop loving me. No matter how much of a rotten brat I decide to be."
Jason smiled, holding his anxious boy close in his strong arms.
"Is Sonny right?" Clay asked hesitantly. "Will you still keep me, even if I'm bad?"
"You are never bad, Clay," Jason said firmly. "Making mistakes and immature choices does not make you bad. All kids mess up and break the rules. And yes, your loose-lipped Uncle Sonny is correct. I will never stop loving you - no matter what nonsense you decide is a good idea. And I will absolutely never send you away from me or your family. We all love you and worry when you make questionable choices without thinking about the consequences."
"Are you getting over being mad at me?" Clay asked hopefully.
"I'm already over it, sweetheart," Jason said. "And this conversation is also over. No more talking. No more questions. Close those eyes. Relax. Go to sleep."
"I love you, Jase," Clay said drifting off.
"I love you too, baby," Jason kissed his head. "Goodnight, Trouble."