Jazton Blurbs: Prompts #8, 15, 19
A/N: As requested by @allbe0418 about a million years ago, I’ve got some Jazton blurbs for y’all today below the cut! It’s from that prompt list I posted back in, like, January oops... Many apologies because I couldn’t come up with anything for 18 (angst is tough for me, my dudes), BUT I went for it on the others. They’re in chronological order, rather than numerical, so that’s why the numbering is out of whack.
Also, I don’t actually ship Jazton (oops?), so I had trouble finding the inspo to write them romantically. Still, I hope this is in line with their characterization and their dynamic and that you enjoy! xo, christina
Characters: Jaz Khan and Adam Dalton (primarily), Joseph McGuire, Preach Carter, Amir Al-Raisani, Hussein Larijani
Requested?: Yes/No
Total WC: 1385 (this got out of hand, but then again, my writing always does lol)
Requests: Open!
#19: Things You Said When We Were The Happiest We Ever Were (WC: 206)
[A/N: I tweaked the prompt a little... it’s more from Dalton’s POV rather than a mutual memory]
Between the missions, the wedding, the anniversaries, the kids and the little forever they had carved out together, Jaz and Adam had a lot of good moments over the years. But for Adam, there was always one moment that made his chest feel all gooey and warm. (Which is ironic, because in the moment, he was two milliseconds away from a bullet in his brain.)
They were thousands of miles from home, beneath an overpass in a kill box of a city, sabotaging an Iranian secret police convoy in order to rescue Jaz. Call Adam crazy for saying that was the happiest moment of his life, but when the doors of the truck swung open and revealed Jaz’s squirming and bloodied- but very much alive- form, it was only the adrenaline pumping through Adam’s veins that kept him from collapsing from relief and sobbing from happiness as McG performed a few basic first aid measures.
“I got you!” Adam assured her breathlessly as he and McG hoisted her out of the truck and transported her into the back of the van that Amir, Preach and Hussein had just arrived in. “I got you! You’re alright!”
Their girl- Adam’s girl- was alive and they were going home.
#15: Things You Said With Too Many Miles Between Us (WC: 452)
Jaz sat at the kitchen table alone, waiting for the kettle to steam and the water to boil. In the days following the mess in Tehran, Grandma Carter’s No-Fail Nap Time Tea had been essential to getting a good night’s sleep, especially since the guys were gone. Without them, home was eerily quiet and her only company was Patton and Xander, which was truly depressing. But, if all went to plan, they should return from Bogota soon enough.
Speak of the devil- the sat phone was vibrating on the communications desk, right next to the laptop that DIA sent their mission directives through. Jaz shot out of her seat and lunged for the phone. It had to be one of the guys checking in from Bogota. She hoped they had good news.
She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“Jaz, hey.” Dalton’s voice came through the line, calm and collected. “It’s Dalton.”
“Hey, Top.” She smiled softly. “How was the mission?”
“Successful. How are things there?” He asked before she could ask for any more details, which Jaz was certain was intentional.
“Everything’s good.” She assured him. “I took Patton for a run and then hit the gym. I played some video games and beat my own high score for the hell of it. I was about to rack up when you called.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” He laughed. “Somebody’s getting cocky.”
Jaz smirked as she repeated the words she had said to Xander not too long ago. “Nobody beats me.”
“Maybe at video games, but just wait until we get back to the shooting range.” He teased lightly.
“We’ll see about that.” She chuckled. “How are the-?”
A muffled voice cut in that was too quiet for Jaz to discern to whom it belonged. “Top, stop pretending like you can’t hear me. You’re not that far away!”
“Who’s there?” Jaz asked curiously.
“Nobody,” Dalton responded immediately. “You were saying?”
“I was gonna ask how the team is doing.”
“It was a close shave, but everybody’s-” Before he could finish, Jaz heard a voice that sounded like McG’s arguing in the background: “Come on, Top! Tell Jazzy I said hi. I know she misses me!”
“Yeah, right, Joseph.” A second, sarcastic voice remarked. That must be Amir.
“What are you two, twelve?” A third voice, serene and deep, asked. Given the tone, the last voice was Preach for sure.
“Would you guys be quiet?” Dalton hissed, annoyance lacing his voice, before remembering Jaz was on the line. “Uh, sorry, Jaz. That was just the guys being... them.”
“It’s fine.” She said lightly before adding, “Hey, Top?”
“Yeah?”
She smirked. “Would you tell them I said hi?”
Dalton groaned, but Jaz could hear him smiling.
#8: Things You Said When You Were Crying (WC: 727)
[aka a continuation of That Fire Pit Scene from 1x11]
The boys had returned from Colombia earlier in the afternoon and Xander had cleared Jaz that morning, which called for the traditional team celebration- horseshoes, beers, and grilling.
Jaz was happy they were back; being alone on base felt wrong. She missed the smell of Amir’s cooking; the sound of Preach’s soft and affectionate tone that he used when talking to his girls; the thrill that shot up her spine when she would beat Top in their weekly Tuesday target practice competition at the range. Hell, she even missed the way McG teasingly called her Jazzy, which might have been a sign that the Apocalypse was imminent. Or maybe she just really wanted things back to normal. All she had while they were gone were video games, sessions with Xander and Patton, the couch-hogging, slobber-kissing Wonder Dog.
The evening was casual, the food was good, and the nighttime sky was chilly. After the others had gone to bed, Jaz and her CO sat in front of the fire, sharing a blanket, sipping beers and watching the fire flicker in front of them. Their conversation had ventured into uncharted waters-- to Top’s past, before Jaz had known him.
“To do the things we do… you have to be able to tap into another part of yourself. But I don’t like that guy, that Adam Dalton.” He looked back at her, eyes shining with tears. “But he’s a part of me and he doesn’t go away.”
For a few moments, the only sound was the crackling of the flames in the fire pit. Jaz didn’t know what to do or say. Top wasn’t one to wear his heart on his sleeve, to bare his feelings to anyone; he liked to keep his emotions in check and his feelings close to his chest. He would argue that emotional control was a prerequisite to do his job.
That being said, people don’t typically share their innermost thoughts unless they want a response, so Jaz scooted closer to him and looped an arm around his shoulder in a show of support. She didn’t know if he was looking for more- and maybe, just maybe, she hoped that he was- but once that line was crossed, they couldn’t go back. She had to be sure and she just wasn’t yet, so she held herself back.
Dalton gripped his beer bottle in his hand tightly, like it was a stress ball. “In Tehran, after you were taken, I shot a civilian in the leg just because I wanted information. It was out of left field, but my body just did it, like it was the natural thing to do.”
“When I had the shot on Jarif, I felt the same thing.” She squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. “It’s reflexive. You use your best judgment in the moment, but the bond we have as a team causes us to do some crazy-looking shit.”
His bright blue eyes met her dark ones and she could’ve sworn she saw a glimmer of mirth there as he murmured, low and slow. “Sometimes we have to improvise.”
She nodded, one of the corners of her mouth turned up into a soft smile. “And sometimes we don’t sleep so well afterward, but we learn from it and we strive to do better.”
Dalton took a deep breath, wiped the tears away, reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. He offered her a small, tight, appreciative smile. “Thank you, Jaz- really. Another day of these thoughts rattling around in my head and I would’ve had to check myself in to see Xander.”
She laughed quietly at that. “While that’s always a good option to have, I’m always around to talk, too.”
“Noted.” He yawned and stretched his hands over his head, out of her embrace. “I’m beat. I’m gonna go rack up. You should probably do the same.”
“Wouldn’t want to mess with your beauty sleep schedule.” She teased with a smile.
“You know you wouldn’t.” He teased, scooped up their empty beer bottles and trudged off toward the bunks.
She was too lost in her thoughts to respond immediately, so he was already out of earshot when she replied, “Night, Top” to the inky Incirlik sky.
Jaz stayed up for a while after that, watching the flames of the fire slowly die off, wondering when things had become so complicated.
