11 months later…

"Well, well, well… Look who's finally allowed back out to play with the big boys." Sonny joked as Clay entered the briefing room.

"You sure you really want to be back with this group of knuckleheads?" Lisa asked as she jokingly punched Sonny in the arm.

Sonny rubbed his arm, pretending like it actually hurt "Woah there Ms. Davis! Are you saying you'd rather be running with a different team? Cause I can assure you, we can make that happen!" Sonny winked and the rest of the group laughed.

"There isn't a different group of 'knuckleheads' that I'd rather run with and besides, if I had to sit at the desk one more day, there's no doubt I'd start climbing the walls." Clay insisted.

"Start? You've been climbing the walls basically since you left Jason's!" Ray stated, resulting in a sarcastic eye roll from Clay.

"It's good to have you back man." Jason said as he patted Clay on the back.

Once everyone was done welcoming Clay back, they all took their designated seats and waited for Ellis to inform them about their next mission.

It was a simple mission, or at least it was supposed to be. They all knew how the simple ones seemed to be the ones that always ended up going sideways. They just hoped this wasn't one of them.

After the briefing ended, they all packed up and headed for the plane. It was going to be a long, rough flight to India and everyone worried how Clay was going to handle it. He hasn't flown since the helicopter flight after the accident and only recently, fully got over his fear of being in the car.

"You think he'll be ok?" Ray asked Jason once they were the only two left in the room.

"He'll be fine. He was in a car accident, not a plane crash. He was fine with flying after that helicopter crash last year, I don't see why a plane flight would be any different." Jason defended Clay, but still wasn't entirely confident in his words.

"You're right, but he didn't almost die in that helicopter crash. Hell, up until two months ago he would tense up at the slightest bump in the road. We're flying through a storm, there's going to be a lot of turbulence. I'm just concerned about him, that's all." Ray admitted.

"We'll keep an eye on him. Worst case scenario, we'll slip him something to take the edge off. Now let's go before they leave us behind." Jason assured Ray.

They boarded their plane and spotted everyone in their typical locations. Jason walked by Clay in order to get to his hammock. "You good man?"

Clay looked up at Jason, he was a little nervous about the flight but he would never admit it. "Yeah, just ready to get back out there."

"Good. Just let us know if you need anything." Jason said as he plopped into his hammock.

As predicted, the flight was long and they experienced turbulence a majority of the way. Jason and Ray took turns trying to keep an eye on Clay without him noticing. It didn't work.

"I know you're watching me." He said, with his eyes shut and a slight smile on his face. "I'm fine. Really." And he was. The first hour or two he felt a little uneasy with the turbulence, but he eventually settled in and was fine the rest of the flight.

Once they landed they all headed to their temporary rooms and dropped off their things. No one bothered to really unpack as they were only expecting to be there for three, four days tops.

/

For once, everything on the mission went as planned. They easily acquired their target, and now that they were back home, it was time to celebrate.

The entire team went out to a local bar, one they all went to often. "First rounds on me." Blackburn informed them all. Once they all had their first drink a quick toast was made and then the night continued.

Everything finally felt right again. That was until about the two hour mark.

"Oh shit. What the fuck is she doing here?" Sonny stated as he began to leave his bar stool and make his way to the door before Lisa stopped him. Sonny looked around and stopped when he laid eyes on Clay. He had his back to the door and was playing a game of darts with Trent.

"You sit back down." Lisa demanded as Sonny started to stand. They seemed to be the only two that noticed Stella enter the bar with some friends. "Let me do the talking." She then stood up and made her way over to Stella.

Stella's face when she noticed Lisa striding towards her looked like she had just seen a ghost. Stella had visited the bar often since her and Clay broke up but knew they were bound to run into each other at some point. In a way, she secretly hoped they would. She felt bad about the way they ended things and wanted to make things right.

"Stella, hey." Lisa smiled as she approached Stella and her friends, doing her best not to make a scene.

"Hey Lisa." Stella smiled back. Not the hello she was expecting, in fact, she fully expected Lisa to verbally attack her and in a way, wouldn't blame her.

There was an awkward silent moment between the two before Lisa finally spoke up. "What are you doing here?" It was both an honest and interrogating question. She knew this was the bar where Clay first met Stella, meaning she went there before her and Clay were a thing but she also knew that Stella was aware of the fact that the team went there often. If she was there to cause a scene she wanted to put a quick halt on it.

"Just came to have a few drinks with some friends. I had no idea you guys would be here. I swear. If you want us to leave and go somewhere else just say the word and we…we'll…" She stopped herself short as her eyes landed on Clay. Clay noticed her almost at the same moment, having to do a double take to make sure it was really her and that he wasn't seeing things.

He put his beer down on the table and walked over. Stella's heart started racing. She didn't know what to expect. Was Clay going to be ok with her being here or was he going to tell her off?

By now everyone had noticed Clay making his way over to Stella.

"This has disaster written all over it." Sonny whispered to himself.

Jason was about to head in the same direction to interject when Mandy stopped him. "Let them. They have some unfinished business that needs tending to."

"So help me God, Mandy, if this sets him back in any way…" Jason started to say.

"That conversation that's about to happen, it's been a long time coming. Whatever happens, happens." Mandy was right and Jason knew it, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

As Clay approached, Stella's butterflies grew. She didn't know what to say, how to act. She wanted to turn around and run out the door but it was all too late for that. Clay was now practically standing right in front of her. "Clay. Hey." She managed to get out. "How are you? You look great."

Clay shrugged his shoulders. "Feeling good as new. Got a few extra scars but other than that you would never even know I was in that accident."

"Good. That's great. Really great." Stella blurted out.

"I'm gonna head back to the bar. I'm sure you two have some catching up or something to do. It was good to see you Stella." Lisa said as she awkwardly started walking back towards the bar to rejoin Sonny.

"You want to step outside, maybe talk for a minute?" Stella asked nervously.

Clay shook his head in agreement and the two headed out the door.

It took everything in them for Bravo to not follow them out the door, but they all knew this was something that had to happen in order for Clay to fully move on. They all witnessed how the break up messed with his head throughout his recovery and they were all glad he was finally, hopefully, going to get some closure.

Outside, Clay and Stella walked over to a picnic table and sat down. Clay sat on the table with his feet on the chair, while Stella sat on it normally.

"I meant what I said Clay. You do really look great. Happy." Stella's shaky voice said.

"I am. Now…" Clay said as the two made eye contact.

The 'now' part hit Stella hard. She didn't know how to respond. "I'm sorry" was all that came to mind.

Clay shrugged his shoulders. "It's fine. The past is the past. No use in dwelling on it now."

"But I do. I do dwell on it. Every damn day. I think about how I could have done things differently. If I hadn't gotten mad when you got the text, maybe you wouldn't have stormed off and got in an accident, or if I hadn't asked Gordon to help me pack, and I swear I only asked him because he was the closest and I, at the time, wanted out of there as quick as possible…." She started ranting through a steady flow of tears before Clay interrupted her.

"Woah, woah, woah. Stop right there. What happened to me, that had nothing to do with you, do you understand. That accident was happening whether we got in a fight or not. There was nothing that could have been done to stop that." Clay bended the truth a bit to try to help Stella calm down. He knew the accident happened because he was distracted from her constant phone calls but he would never tell her that. "Look at me. Its. Not. Your. Fault."

Stella wasn't fully convinced but she shook her head in agreement. "Come on. It's freezing out here. Let's go back in and I'll buy you a drink." Clay said.

Stella looked up, a bit shocked that even after everything, he was willing to buy her a drink. "You know, you truly are an amazing guy. It's a shame we didn't work out."

Clay shrugged his shoulders again. "You know, in a thousand lifetimes we would, just not this one. But that doesn't mean we can't still be friends."

"I don't think I could handle that Clay. I love you. A part of me always will, but I think after tonight, its best we go our separate ways. I'm actually moving to Kentucky next weekend. I got an awesome job offer at a wonderful college. I couldn't turn it down. The girls and I just came out to celebrate my last weekend in town." Stella admitted.

"Wow. That's great. I'm happy for you. If anyone deserves it, it's you. You worked your ass off for it. Now I definitely have to buy you a drink." Clay smiled and then opened his arms to welcome Stella in for a hug. She hesitated at first but then hugged him back. She hugged him extra tight, listening to his heartbeat. 'God I love this man' she thought, but she knew as long as he was with bravo, or on any team for that matter, she couldn't be with him. She still believed that death was a very possible, eventuality for Clay and she couldn't just sit around waiting for that to happen.

As they headed back inside, all eyes were on them. Clay gave a nod indicating that everything was all good and the two proceeded to bar where Clay bought Stella a drink. Everyone was a little surprised and concerned that he was buying her a drink and spending time with her but no one dared to approach. Not yet at least. Once the drink was finished, Clay and Stella said their final goodbye as Stella and her friends left.

The second Stella was out the door, Bravo was at Clay's side, dying to know what just happened.

"We're all good. She's moving to Kentucky next weekend." Clay informed them.

They all blew a sigh of relief knowing that the two weren't getting back together.

"Are you ok with that?" Lisa asked.

Clay looked up at Lisa and shook his head. "Yeah. I am." And he meant it. He received the closure he didn't even realize he needed and could finally move on from everything that happened over the last year. He smiled. The team smiled and then the celebration continued.

End.

Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews. They meant a lot. I really enjoyed writing this story and hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Sorry I didn't elaborate more on Clay's first mission back. I couldn't think of a quick story line that wouldn't make this last chapter forever long (although I'm sure some of you wouldn't haven't minded) but I wanted to focus more on the Clay and Stella storyline. I tried to think of something that would make both the Stella lovers and haters happy and hope I did ok with that. Anyway, on to the next story. If anyone has any ideas of some sort of story line for the next story I'm more than willing to take suggestions.