When Jake meets a woman at the Hard Deck, the last thing he expects is for her to be a Navy Seal. And not just any Seal, the Commander of Seal Team 3. She's beautiful, smart, dangerous, and everything about her just makes him want to get close. Her...
Warnings: Jake's really into his feelings, unconsciousness, medical setting, swearing, the author's an asshole (you'll see...)
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Bear slept for days; her body too weary for anything else except passing out and doing her best to heal after the traumatizing last few weeks. She wasn't alone in her room though. Jake had hardly budged from the chair he sat in, watching her closely, like he half-expected her to vanish if he left or looked away for even a second. No one knew what to do, Bear had dropped a bomb on the conference room table like she had known what her team needed. She was funny like that, always managing to care for others even when she was the one needing a break.
But as she slept, the days passed by slowly. The mission had happened damn near a month ago and its effects were still being uncovered day by day. "Jake. Jake. Come on man, you need to shower." Coyote had been trying to coax Jake to leave the room for the past two days, but nothing had worked. "I know you're worried about her, but she isn't going to magically wake up if you keep starin' at her."
"I know." Jake's voice was small, such a contrast from the loud, boisterous personality with an equally loud voice that everyone knew and some loved. "Five more minutes?"
"Man, come on. Please. You said five minutes 25 minutes ago," Coyote was growing more and more frustrated by the second. He didn't know what had happened to Bear, didn't want to know, but even then, he was still trying to wrangle his best friend into taking care of himself. "I'll get Fireball or Nix to come sit with her while you shower, okay?"
Jake watched Coyote step out for a moment to call or text someone to come and sit with Bear. Deep down, Jake knew that there would be no shortage of takers. Bear was loved by her team and damn near everyone who knew her, plus he had been occupying the room for nearly 5 days, someone likely had something that they wanted to say to her without him around. "I miss you, Teddy," he muttered, squeezing her hand before placing it back on top of the covers. "Please be okay."
He sat in silence for a while, eyes flicking over the healing bruises, the bandages, and the drab hospital gown that covered her. She was still Bear in every way that mattered, but the question was, would she remember him? Would she remember the chaste cheek kiss nearly a month ago now, how she called him Flyboy? God, he hoped so.
Jake was broken from his reverie when Phoenix came into the room. "Hey Bagman." Her voice was soft like she was speaking to a frightened child instead of her teammate. "How's our girl?"
"Breathing. I know they did something to her oxygen earlier," he replied, gazing down at her face, tracing its lines with his eyes. "Apparently she's doing better than expected."
"That's great." Phoenix didn't know how to proceed with this conversation. The man before her was so far from the Jake she knew and she didn't know how to handle it. "That's really good."
He swallowed hard. "Yeah. She's a fighter." Tears were pricking his eyes and Jake quickly blinked them back. "Thanks for staying with her."
"Hey. It's not a problem. Should warn you that Bradshaw insisted on tagging along. I think he feels bad," Phoenix told him, settling in the chair next to him. "But," she whispered conspiratorially, leaning in close. "I won't let him take your seat. How's that?"
