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Before Jacob Mathew Jensen was Corporal Jensen, tech and comms specialist, and part of the Losers, he was Jake. Jake was an underweight, constantly picked on socially awkward genius who never really liked computers. He loved to read, and wanted to be a doctor. Until he met Darcy Lewis, at the age of fifteen, Darcy was thirteen and as soon as he saw her, typing away furiously on a beat up laptop he fell head over heels.
Darcy was sitting crossed legged on a bench, laptop in her lap wearing the baggiest clothes, atrocious hat that covered up just about half of her face when her head was tilted down and muttering under her breath. To him she was gorgeous and apparently very angry at something, so he walked over, sat next to her and watched what she was doing over her shoulder. The language was fascinating and he was enthralled at the speed in which it flashed over the screen.
“Can I help you?” the feminine voice came from beside him was small and frail in a way that made him want to punch whomever made her feel that way.
“I’m just curious; you seem to be very… uh… annoyed?” Jake said stiltedly, he was shy and this was the first person who talked to him that wasn’t his sister. Everyone else just pretended he wasn’t there, or picked on him.
“Annoyed would be an understatement, I’m trying to…” Darcy trailed off as she finally looked at him; slowly a small smile bloomed across her face. “You don’t seem the type to like computers, why talk to an thirteen year old computer prodigy? I hate that word, don’t use it.”
“Ah, it isn’t that… I don’t mind them… Just that, well… yea…” Jake stammered as he looked into her eyes and all brain functions ceased and completely derailed. “Don’t worry I hate the word prodigy and genius as well.”
“Mmm, I should think so; I’ve seen you around campus. So what is your major?” Darcy asked, going back to typing furiously on her laptop. She didn’t even wait for an answer before she continued talking. “If I had to guess I’d say medicine, you’d make a good doctor, but you need to work on your social interactions.”
That was the first time Jake met Darcy and after that day you could find one with the other, unless they were in class. Darcy was constantly talking and Jake just listening and occasionally piping into the conversation as they both studied, or just hung out, eventually Darcy even started to teach Jake about computers, starting at the beginning and working her way to the more complicated aspects, and then hacking.
He took to computers well enough, at least well enough much to Darcy’s amusement. She taught him everything she could, everything she knew and he absorbed the information like a sponge. Eventually he even picked up her habit of talking out loud while he was hacking because he had gotten used to Darcy’s constant chatter. It became even more obvious when she had to move. It became too quiet around Jake and so he started talking, at length while he typed furiously.
When he built his first laptop he called her and expounded in great detail his accomplishment, and she congratulated him, helping him through whatever problem he might face. However, Jake’s fondest memory of Darcy was watching her hack NORAD for giggles. She was a prodigy, no matter how much they both hated the word, and she took to computers like they were an extension of her body.
-.-.-.-.-
A month after he had first met Darcy, she had introduced him to a friend of hers, his name was Alec Hardison and he was strange for lack of a better term. Jake and Hardison got along like a house on fire with a gas leak, and it amused Darcy to no end.
When he had first med Hardison, you’re a friend of Darcy’s call me Hardy, she was lecturing him about cleaning up behind himself when hacking. No need to leave breadcrumbs to be found and traced back to later. Jake had, had a mild panic attack thinking that Hardison (call me Hardy damn it!) was going to one day date Darcy.
Eventually, Darcy calmed down enough to introduce them, after she had ranted for a good hour about breadcrumbs, trails and the FBI white collar division who liked to arrest hackers. Going on and on about precautions, penalties, and everything she could think of before quietly admitting that she didn’t want him to turn out like her Uncle Dade, who had gotten arrested in 1988 as an eleven year old hacker prodigy for crashing 1,507 systems.
They both gaped at her, and then started to exclaim that she was related to Zero Cool and that he was their idol, and everything under the sun. She flustered and told them both to shut up or she’d kick them in the shins. They both quieted quickly, both knowing that she had one mean kick and glanced at each other before laughing and eventually getting kicked out of the library.
Soon after that the three met up whenever they could, Hardison enjoying the constant stream of Darcy’s brand of babble, Jake’s constant piping in and Hardison occasionally making the random comment just to throw both of them off course. However, eventually Hardison noticed that Jake would glance at Darcy a few times to often, a look of longing in his eyes. Small, barely noticeable but there, and Darcy never saw it. While she had people skills, she did not know how to read people, and that threw others for a loop sometimes.
A month after meeting each other, Hardison pulled Jake aside and explained everything that he could about Darcy, and what equated to a shovel talk, or as much of one as a fifteen year old could give. It spoke a lot about Hardison that finally cemented the friendship between the both of them. Darcy was happy the next day when she saw them actually holding a conversation.
-.-.-.-
When Jake turned seventeen and had graduated from college he called Darcy and asked what he should do. He wanted to join the Military, be a part of something bigger, a family in a sense. Darcy just told him to do what felt right, that she couldn’t make his decisions for him and that no matter what she would love him.
That was the first time she had admitted that she loved him, and he was over the moon. He told her that he loved her as well, and that he would join, save up money and ask her to marry him once she graduated. However, she changed her major so many times that he had a feeling it would be a while before she did. He couldn’t blame her for that though, Darcy had a thirst for knowledge, and she had enough scholarship money to go to school for a long time.
She had stammered once he said that he was going to marry her, before saying that she would wait, forever if need be, and that he better not die. Jake had promised as best as he could, but he knew that it wouldn’t be a guarantee that he wouldn’t, and she knew the same. They were both smart enough to know that it might happen, even if he went into the Air force.
They both did research on the military branches, Jake not hacking and talking to recruiters, Darcy, well Darcy hacked the DoD for Jake and told him that he would love the Army the most. However, it would take a while to find his place and to try not to annoy to many people. He agreed and the next day went to talk to the Army recruiter and sign his enlistment contract. He would be shipping out for boot camp within the month, the recruiter told him, and to make sure that he got everything in order and not to bring anything with him to boot camp besides a watch, the clothes he would wear to the MEPS* building, and his hygiene kit. Everything else would be provided when he checked in to Boot Camp and not to worry about it.
Jake listened, and made sure that he followed those orders, mainly because he didn’t want anyone touching his electronic equipment, they might stumble across his other activities. When Jake finally got to boot camp and started the check in process, he’d already been without sleep for twenty four hours and was getting jittery. He was used to not sleeping, having a computer readily available, streams of data scrolling across the screen and it was strange for him to not have it any more. He rarely talked in boot camp, keeping to himself as they broke him down, and rebuilt him to the way they wanted.
However, no matter what they did he would always be Jake Jensen and eventually, he would also become Jensen, talkative asshole who just wouldn’t shut his fucking mouth! The months passed, and he got better with the physical training, building muscles and enjoying the burn that it brought. He’d never be an extremely buff guy, but he wouldn’t be scrawny either so he considered it a win.
Boot camp was all routine and learning, and Jensen was good at learning; however, when one had an eidetic memory and had everything memorized within the first couple of days things became boring. When things became boring Jensen was one who tended to hacking into things that he shouldn’t, but since there was a lack of computers around and a lot of people he just stayed silent, plotting out the next program, the next line of code. Something that would impress Darcy, and hopefully something that she hadn’t already thought of, but knowing her, she probably already had thought of it, used it and then upgraded and expounded upon it.
Still though, it kept him occupied, it kept him quiet and that was all that mattered. The less he talked the less attention he attracted and the less he’d be bullied. He knew he would be, it always happened no matter where he went, and it was probably because he was on the shorter side of the scale rather than the jock side. Either way, he was happy going by under the radar. He just hoped he’d be able to call home soon, Hannah was about to give birth and Darcy was watching over her as best she could from the college in New Hampshire. This being her fifth transfer, and this time for physics, so she went to New Hampshire to watch over Hannah, make sure she was taken care of, and nothing went wrong until he got home.
-.-.-.-
Graduation for boot camp was an interesting affair, especially since Darcy, Hannah and baby Addison had shown up. No one could figure out whose family they were, apparently Jake did his job of flying under the radar well enough. As the small family left the rest of his company was confused, because they didn’t even remember the young blonde and it was obvious that he had come from their company. However, he had walked away with two hot women and they wanted to know who he was, so as soon as he got back they had a plan to corner him.
They didn’t expect that when they cornered him for it to back fire, and back fire on them it did spectacularly, because as soon as he got cornered he started to fight, and he did well. Made it through a good portion of his company before the drill sergeants appeared and broke up the fight. That was the first time that Jake Jensen was recognized in the Army, and the first mark in his folder, even though it was self defense.
It was also what got him into spec ops; the drill sergeants didn’t think that one man could take out that many men apparently they were wrong. So Jensen got the recommendation and the next day when he was on liberty told Darcy and Hannah. Both women were proud, though they lamented the fact that he would be in training for at least three years, especially if he wanted the comms and linguist specialties. Although, he wouldn’t get leave in between AIT school and the spec ops training which made them all a bit sad, considering he’d never been away from either of them for longer than a year.
-.-.-.-
Time in the military went by differently than it does for a civilian, mainly because of the fact that you are always doing something, Jensen figured that out quickly. Three years to Darcy, and Hannah felt like six, to him it felt like one, then again he was also very busy. He also came out of his shell and talked, a lot and pissed a lot of people off at the same time because they couldn’t figure out how to shut him up.
What they didn’t know was that he only talked because he missed his sister and Darcy, and Darcy talked a lot more than he did. They would probably hate her because of the fact that she would intentionally rile them up just so she could down you with something. She was sneaky like that, and it was one of the reasons that he loved her. At least one thing was good about spec ops training, and that was they were allowed to make phone calls whenever they weren’t training or it was past lights out.
Darcy and Hannah noticed it before anyone else, spec ops brought a whole new Jake to the fore, someone who was confident and knew what he was doing but smart enough to not brag…much... However, the real difference was that his words also had an underlying of steel, something that he didn’t have before. Something that transformed him from a boy into a man and it made both of them proud and sad at the loss of some of his innocence, because Jake was sunshine and smiles, this Jake was sunshine covered with some clouds and somewhat cynical.
Although, anyone who didn’t or couldn’t see that was stupid in both of their opinions, then again to them that was a lot of people. No matter though, because they both loved him still and loved him fiercely. He called at least twice a week and they both made sure to be near a phone for when it happened, otherwise it would be a while until they got to hear his voice, warbled by the phone connection again.
However, eventually three years passed and he was on leave for a month, and they made sure to be there as often as their jobs or schooling would allow. Jake finally got to meet his niece and it was love at first sight, everywhere Jake went in the house soon after there would be a two year old following behind him. It made the women laugh and Jake proud that his little bumblebee loved him enough to follow him around the house.
When his leave was over, both women and his munchkin cried, but they all gave him pictures, three of them to keep with him no matter where he was, to remind him what he had to come home to. One had Hannah and Addi; one had both women and his niece, and the last was Darcy in all of the pictures the women had smiles on their faces.
-.-.-.-.-
Being bounced from one unit to the next is not as fun as it might sound each unit worse than the last because they heard of you from your last one and so they only look at the annoying habits and not what you are good at. Eventually the bad outweighs the good and you are looking at your last chance to stay, to do something that you are good at, the only thing you know besides college and computers.
The military made you like this, it rebuilt you the way they wanted and you know what to do, but when you are on your last foot because you can’t keep your damn mouth shut it pisses you off. Jensen figured this out, and the more units he gets tossed between the angrier he gets, and Darcy and Hannah see this. They see him pushing himself more, to try to make the good outweigh the bad, to try to keep quiet, but bad habits are hard to break and this one was always his worse. He doesn’t even understand how he was quiet for almost nine whole weeks of basic training.
So when he finally meets the Losers, he’s a touch bitter and still runs his mouth but he can back up everything he says. If he can’t, he knows who to call because if he can’t hack into it then Darcy can and she always loves a challenge. After spending a year with this unit, no with the losers, he finally relaxes just a bit to think that maybe, just maybe he found his place.
When he first met his new CO, he was already expecting the do’s and don’ts which consisted of keep your mouth fucking shut and do your job. So when he didn’t get that he was confused, the do’s and don’ts were 1) don’t touch the fucking Hat, and you’ll know it when you see it just trust me. 2) Don’t touch Roque’s knives. Ever. Even if he dies, he’d haunt your ass for touching them. 3) Don’t touch anything belonging to Pooch unless given permission. He might seem nice but he’s a loser and he’ll fuck you up. 4) Well you’ll learn the rest as you go.
He’d been a bit shocked when he heard those rules, to say the least. They were different than all of the other rules from the units he’d been in and so he just stared at his CO with one eyebrow raised and a frown starting to mar his face. His disbelief was very noticeable and it made his new commanding officer bark out a laugh, “yea, that’s pretty much all we have in the way of rules, the rest are made up as we go along.”
Jensen had never had trouble speaking before; normally anything that came to mind would be immediately blurted out with some sort of spastic movement. This time though, his mind was blank, the shock a bit much. “A…Alright, I can roll with that. “ Was about the only thing that made it past his lips, once his brain started higher functions and kicked into gear.
-.-.-.-.-
The months passed by and Jake fit in somewhat, there were professional differences, such as the fact that when he was needed to get information about their missions he talked. He talked a lot even when he wasn’t hacking, and it pissed off Roque. Honestly, Jensen thought it was hilarious that he pissed off his XO so much. Cougar didn’t seem to mind much, then again Jensen couldn’t really tell since his hat, The Hat he reminded himself, covered Cougar’s eyes, and well Pooch wasn’t around Jensen enough for Jensen to get a read on.
After their first mission, Jake took Cougar home with him since it seemed the older man, and sniper who watched his back, didn’t have any place else to go. Hannah enjoyed his company, and figured the quiet sniper might be able to ground her brother more, and Darcy loved him so long as nothing happened to Jake. She had even threatened him with bodily harm if anything should happen to him and made him promise to take care of him where she couldn’t and she would take care of them both.
Her threat was honestly so vicious, Jake was pretty sure he saw Cougar pale a couple of times, and Jake snickered to himself. Jake and Cougar, both returned to base and to their next mission after a week with Darcy, Hannah and Addi. It was a month long stint in Kyrgyzstan, which went from alright to horrible, to atrocious for the fact that Clay got shot in the leg, to awesome because Jensen managed to get Roque to respect him by carrying Clay out of the compound they were laying siege to.
Cougar had kept his word to Darcy also, considering he saved Jensen from getting shot in the back while he was running with his Commanding Officer slung over his shoulder like a sack of rice. When they got to the rendezvous point where Pooch was waiting for them, with a military humvee Jensen proved that his study into sutures was at least good, although Cougar had dug the slug out of his leg.
After that mission they became a team, a second family for Jensen and when they went on leave this time he not only took Cougar, but also Pooch and Rogue and invited Jolene to come over to his sister’s house. Pooch and Roque ended up getting the same talking (ranting, Pooch would mutter later away from the hearing of Darcy) from Darcy, keep him safe, keep him out of trouble and you won’t deal with me.
Bolivia happened before Jake could bring Clay home to meet his sister, niece and girlfriend. After that they were trying to lay low, and make sure they stayed off Max’s radar for a while. He had done a bit of hacking to see what their status was, and after that had fallen off the grid. At least they thought they had fallen off the grid until Aisha showed up.