After we cleared out of the building all of our teams compressed into one for us to make the mile long trek back to the exfil point. Once I was outside of the building I started up my video fed and coms again. On our way out of the village, any body we passed was checked for cell phones. They were all going to be needed for intel on any remaining ISIS leaders in the area. Cut off one head, another will take it's place.

There weren't many hostiles left alive on our way out. The ones we past were mainly taking stock of those that were lost in the battle.

"Remember rules of engagement. You are not to fire, unless fired upon." I said in my walkie to the rest of my team. It's been a long enough night and I didn't want any more blood on my hands then needed at this point.

My team stuck to my words for as long as we could until one of the hostiles in mourning picked up a weapon. He was struck down immediately by a member of Alpha Team. As we regrouped at the exfil point, Alpha One relayed the information to command and our ride dropped down in the middle of the field for us.

I made sure every member of my team was on board before I hopped inside and closed the door behind me. Just as I sat down on the floor, Emmett was by my side ready to look at my arm.

"Attend to everyone else first Emmett." I said and turned off my video feed and tipped my helmet back.

"Everyone has already been addressed ma'am." Emmett said and started to open his kit.

"How about we save the actual stitches for when we are a more stable aircraft." I asked as Emmett cut my my sleeve away.

"We'll see." He said and started to clean out the gash on my arm. This was the first time I got the chance to look at it. It looked like the bullet took a chunk of my skin when it whizzed past me.

"Your favorite, QuikClot. I'll wrap it up for now but you need to go to medical once we land at base." Emmett said as he ripped a package opened with his teeth. The gauze was wrapped tightly to my arm followed by another one then came some more gauze wrapped around my whole arm to keep it together.

"Since you were such a good patient, I'll even give you a lollipop." Emmett said as he pulled out a red sugar lollipop from somewhere. I took a few long sips of my water before I took the lollipop from him and stuck it in my mouth. The cherry flavor shocked my system and the sugar helped clear my head a bit.

"There she is." Emmett said as he shined his light in both of my eyes. "We'll land in Turkey in about a half hour. How about you watch the sunrise for now." He said as he packed up some of the supplies he used.

I did what he asked, my brain could only handle simple tasks right now. Watching the fiery red sun come over the horizon was beautiful. It took my breath away as red seeped into orange and yellow. As we touched down on the tarmac in Turkey the sun was barely up enough to turn the sky blue. All of us were bone tired as we got onto the plane that is taking us back to Germany. Once we all got settled onto the plane and the flight took off, we all crashed as the adrenaline finally wore off.

When I woke up, the plane was already on the ground and it looks like it's only been on the ground for a few minutes as everyone was still getting there things together. As I started to move around, the pain in my arm was a lot more noticeable. Just as I went to stand up, a hand was placed on my shoulder. When I looked up Emmett was standing there holding my helmet and rifle in his hand.

"Get your vest off, you're going straight to medical, they are here now to take you." He said. I just nodded, not even bothering putting up a fight and got myself out of my vest just letting it fall to the floor behind me.

Once it was off, the medics came up the ramp of the plane and held me steady when my vision went spotty. They seemed alarmed at that so they rushed me over to the waiting cart and rushed me off. The next little while is blurry in my memory. Lots of bright lights shined in my eyes, white walls and muttered voices I couldn't connect with. It took a while but the voices and bright lights finally calmed down and I could relax enough to sleep.

When I woke up, I realized I was sleeping in the med bay hooked up to a few different IVs. It took a minutes for all of last night to come rushing back to me, but once it did I felt a headache coming on. But for now I turned my head and looked down at my arm to try and see the damage. It's wrapped tightly in a lot of white bandages then when I tried to move my fingers I realized that my arm is resting in a sling. Just as I was about to pull my arm out of the sling, a door slammed shut and on instinct reached for my pistol that was not strapped to my leg.

"Nice to see you awake in the morning." Major Collins said holding a cup of coffee as she sat down in the chair next to my bed.

"What the fuck happened and why do I feel hung over?" I asked as I raised the bed a bit to be able to sit up.

"Once we got you standing after we landed, you promptly passed out due to the blood loss. The medics rushed you in here to patch you up, gave you some pain meds to help with all the stitches they had to put in you." Major Collins said and took a sip of her coffee.

"Anybody else hurt?" My mind always on my team.

"A few scraps here and there, nothing major. But I do have a very worried Lieutenant who has not slept in the last 24 hours pace the halls wanting an update on your status." Major Collins said.

"Shit." I said and tried to push myself up out of bed but didn't get far when Major Collins just lifted an eyebrow.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked.

"I guess nowhere" I grumbled when it felt like my body wouldn't support my weight.

"That's what I thought. As for right now, Major Roman will be in to see you in about ten minutes for your mission debrief, everyone else on the team already gave there's. After the debrief, I'll carve out some time for you not to be disturbed." Major Collins said.

"Annabelle" I called out for the women as she pulled the door open. She passed in the doorway and looked at me. "Thank you."

Major Collins gave me a smile and a nod before walking out of my room. A nurse popped in to check up on me and gave me some food to eat along with some water. Once she was gone I had about five minutes to myself before Major Roman and another officer walk into the room. Major Roman went right into the debrief, much to my liking. When he asked about my phone, I panicked a little bit because I didn't know where it was right now, just like the rest of my gear. It took a minute but Major Collins rushed back into the room holding my phone in her hand. I breathed a sigh in relief as Major Roman got all the data he was looking for before he handed me my phone.

It wasn't long after that that Major Roman finished his debrief and left my room. I got to enjoy a few more moments of silence before I ate a little bit of the cold breakfast before me. As I was just finishing a pancake my door opened again and my eyes snapped up to find a stressed-out Morgan standing there. Quickly she came into the room and pushed the door closed before shutting the shades on all the windows.

I held out my hand and Morgan came right over to my bed and took a seat on the side of it. Her hand went right for my face and I leaned into the contact, hoping for more.

"You scared the living shit out of me, please don't do this again." Morgan said, her voice breaking over the last words.

"I wish I could promise you that, but until these camo colors are hung up, I can't." I said with pain in my voice wishing I could do something to take her pain away.

Morgan didn't say anything, just leaned down and pressed her lips to mine. The kiss didn't last as long as I wanted it to. There was just to much of a risk for someone catching us. When I pulled away I gave Morgan a small smile and wiped away a tear that fell from her eye. Morgan took a few seconds and wiped her eyes and face clean before she opened the shades in the windows again. With the shades open again, Morgan just took the seat Major Collins was once sitting and pulled it close to my bedside. Her hand found mine and I smiled as she started to run her fingers over my knuckles.

"So, do you know how long I have to be here for?" I asked after a little while of silence.

"I think they'll let you go tonight. They just want you to relax today so the stitches can settle and pump you full of antibiotics and some pain meds." Morgan said.

"And how much longer do you think Collins will be able to keep the team out of here?" I asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Rob shows up soon. The rest of your underlings are mostly trying to get back to there normal sleep schedule." As Morgan said that I heard a knock on the door. Morgan pulled her hand away from mine and sat back in the chair as I yelled enter.

Rob pushed the door open and gave me a smile. He didn't say anything as he came around the other side of my bed and leaned over me to kiss my head before sitting down on the edge of my bed.

"Gave all of us a scare there boss." Rob said and sighed.

"No, none of that. I'm fine now, that's all that matters." I said and reached out for Morgans hand again. She gave me a look and I told her it was okay with him. It took another few seconds before Morgan slowly took my hand again.

"Also, I'm so happy you two finally pulled your heads from your asses. I'm hoping I don't have to hear her bitch about it when we are down range." Rob said and I could help but take my hand back and punch his shoulder. Rob jumped up and laughed at my antics just as the doctor came into the room to give me a once over.

Both Morgan and Rob stayed in the room while he pulled the IVs out of my arm and then went over what they did to repair the damage to my left arm. A bunch of stitches basically. From what I got out of that whole conversation, if the bullet hit any further inside my arm, I would have needed a skin graft to close the wound. After his assessment, he discharged me to limited duties until the stitches come out in a week or two.

With both Rob and Morgan by my side, I pushed myself out of bed and made sure my legs were steady under me. I took the bag from the nurse with my medications in it and then the three of us left the room. Morgan and Rob stayed closely by my side as we walked the halls of the hospital. Once we got outside, Rob gave me his sunglasses as the bright sun of the early afternoon hit me square in the face.

"There she is!" Monica said perking up as she was standing in front of a jeep. I gave her a smile and walked into a side hug from her.

"Lets get the fuck out of here. Anywhere you want to go Dani?" Monica asked as Rob started up the Jeep.

"Just back to our barracks, I want to give my mom a call." I said and hooked my pinky with Morgans as we drove around base.

"You got it boss." Monica said as Rob pulled away from the hospital.

The drive back over to our barracks took about twenty minutes as we stopped at the mess hall. I didn't go inside; Rob and Monica went in with an order for myself and Morgan. All I wanted to go was curl into Morgans side and sleep but I knew I couldn't yet. Rob and Monica came back with our food quickly and we were off to our barracks.

Most of the team wasn't around when we got in much to my liking. Rob and Monica both forced me to sit once we walked through the door and got me anything and everything I could think of. I was able to eat most of my lunch before I felt like I couldn't eat anymore without throwing everything up. After I finished lunch, Monica disappeared to the weight room while I grabbed my laptop bag and walked with Morgan down the hall to her office. We already asked Rob to cover for us and he will for as long as I need.

When we got to her office, Morgan took my bag from me and helped me get my laptop set up. I sent mom and Peyton a text to see if they were awake yet to video call. It took about ten minutes to get an answer and they both said they were ready whenever I was. With a nod from Morgan, I dialed Mom's number and waited a minute for them to answer. It took a few seconds for them to answer and once the video cleared, I could tell they were both still in bed.

"Hey" I said with my eyes already starting to water. Morgan moved her chair closer to mine and I reached for her hand for comfort.

"How are you doing chicken?" Mom asked concerned taking in my arm and disheveled appearance.

"I've been better." I said admitting to not feeling okay at the moment.

"Has it hit the news yet?" Morgan asked.

"Yea, late last night only and in the paper this morning. They only reported one injury to the team members that went in, and looking at you now, I'm assuming it was you?" Peyton asked.

"Yea, bullet graze that could have been a lot worse if it hit in another centimeter or two. I just have to wear this thing the rest of today." I said and moved my left arm a bit in the sling.

"Not that I ever like to see you hurt but I'm happy to see you sitting there Daniella." Mom said with a watery smile.

"Me too. I wanted to let you know that we are going to be here for another few days recouping then we are going to be moving out to Poland. I'll hopefully have another update for you guys on that front before we leave." I said.

"That's good, I bet the team needs a few days to relax after all the training you put them through." Peyton said smirking.

"You should have seen her, I felt like I was back in basic all over again." Morgan said pulling a laugh from all of us.

"Oh I believe that one." Peyton said through her chuckling.

"Oh Daniella, Mallory and I went to visit Shane the other day at his shop and I want to show you something." Mom said and jumped out of bed, taking her laptop with her. I had to close my eyes for a few seconds as the motion was making me dizzy. Morgan squeezed my hand and I opened my eyes again to find 'Mandala' hanging up in mom's art studio.

I sat right up with tears welling in my eyes again. Mom just held the laptop steady while I felt all of those emotions crash over me again. I reached out and touched the screen, kind of forgetting that I couldn't actually touch it until I'm home in person.

"He gave it back to you?" I finally asked and wiped away a tear.

"I'm barrowing it for now. I did tell him I was going to return it at a later date but for now, it's going to be here. It will be here when you get home. In return, he commissioned me to make him a piece for his shop to replace 'Mandala' when it's not on display." Mom said and started to return to their bedroom as my emotions started to bounce all over the place.

Just as Mom got back into her bedroom with Peyton I felt Morgan give my leg a squeeze. I looked over at her and she gave me a soft smile.

"I'm going to give you some time with them okay." Morgan said. I could only nod and lean in a bit to the kiss she left on my lips before watching Morgan leave her office. I turned my attention back to the screen and saw my mothers both looking at me softly.

"Hey mom, can I talk to Peyton alone for a few minutes?" I asked trying not to break the mood we just found ourselves in. Mom and Peyton looked at each other for a few second before nodding.

"Of course honey. I'll go make us both some coffee." Mom said and gave me a smile before sliding out of bed again. When I heard the bedroom door shut I sighed and felt my headache come back at full force.

"What's going on Dani?" Peyton asked concerned.

"The top floor of the apartment caved in by the time we got to the building. When we got upstairs, there was only a hole big enough for me to fit through. The rest of the team had to sit outside in the stairway while I cleared the apartment. Mom, he blew up his own children, that moment of walking through that apartment and seeing their little bodies burnt just keeps replaying over and over and over again." I said my walls finally cracking.

"Only a monster would do such a thing Daniella. Everything is still fresh; you just need to keep your mind on your next mission and you'll be okay. Lean on your team, lean on Morgan. She is there with you. I know she wasn't in the room with you but she can help." Peyton said as I tried to keep my tears from being all out sobs.

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this with her in gear next to me Mom. Her in my ear is different from standing next to me with a gun in her hands. I don't know if I'll be able to live with myself if something happens to Morgan on my watch." I said voicing another fear that has been starting to grow larger.

"I know that you are an anxious mess right now but I know once you get there, you will be able to compartmentalize it. But for now you are going to need to push through this anxiety. Use it to fuel your workouts and mission planning to keep her and everyone else safe." Peyton said.

I stored Peytons words in the back of my mind for now as I tried to calm down. The phone call didn't last much longer. After another minute of soft words of encouragement from Peyton, she went downstairs and put the laptop down on the kitchen island where Mom gave her a coffee. I asked that they update Dominic and Mallory but leave out the part were I was the one that was injured.

As I hung up with them, I shut down my laptop and brought it with me as I left Morgan's office. When I got back to the common room a few of my team were lingering around with Morgan joining them.

"Hey the boss is back!" Leo said and let out a little cheer the rest of the guys that were around all clapped as well so I flashed them a smile.

"Is Emmett around?" I asked as Rob took the laptop from my hands and brought it over to our bunk room.

"My ears were burning. They stitched you up well." Emmett said as he walked through the door from the guys bunk room.

"That they did, can you concoct me something to cover them so I can shower?" I asked as Monica pushed me to sit down in the chair.

"I can, lets move this party over to the bathroom." Emmett said and I got up from my seat. I went into our bunk room and grabbed some fresh clothes from my trunk. As I stood up again, I saw Morgan lurking next to me.

"Since I'm down a hand, think you can lend me one of yours?" I asked softly to her.

"Anything you need." Morgan said and grabbed some fresh clothes for herself as well.

Together we went into the bathroom to find Emmett waiting. He didn't question why Morgan was here, thank God. He just helped me pull my arm from the sling while Morgan helped me out of my shirt. This was the first time I got to see the real damage from the bullet. I grimaced as I took in the rough stitches holding my skin together. I only looked away when Emmett started to put the waterproofing around them. When he finished up, he threw away the scraps and turned to Morgan.

"Don't let her move it too much. The stitches still need some time to settle. Please yell if something happens or if she starts to bleed again." Emmett said.

Morgan nodded and Emmett closed the door behind himself. Morgan went over to the door and locked it before coming over to me to help me out of my clothes. Once I was naked, Morgan started up the water before stripping down herself and together we got into the shower. The water was warm on my skin as I just stood under the stream for a minute to wash away the dirt and pain from this mission.

I don't know how long I was under the stream for when Morgan wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me into her. She pressed a few kisses into my shoulder and neck and I knew I didn't want to leave this bathroom.

"Don't start something we can't finish." I said and walked forward to pull Morgan under the stream.

We stood linked together for another few seconds before Morgan pulled away from me to start to wash my hair. Together, we took our time and as we slowly cleaned each others bodies. Slowly as we moved our way through the shower, I felt a little piece of my sanity return to me and I just hoped it would stay intact for the rest of our time overseas.

a/n: song on the side is called Glasgow by You Me at Six. this version of the song I found when I YouTubed it, orchestral version, and I honestly like it so much better then the original. you really get to hear the roughness in the vocalist voice when the drop hits. This song played while I was writing about Dani's stitches and it kinds of fit the gloomy mood of this chapter.

I'm not that far ahead in writing this book at the moment, only in the middle of chapter 28 which is the teams being deployed. so you probably won't get any more double updates for a while. but you will still get your sunday update every week. just keep those votes up.

As some of you know, I live in New York. I know in most other places in the states and around the word, today is just another Sunday. But being here in New York, 9/11 is just different in a way I can't explain to those who don't live here. today being 9/11 and writing this book, just makes the day feel heavier. It's supposed to rain this afternoon and it's just putting me a dark and gloomy mood. So today, as you go about your day, I just want you to take a second and remember the lives lost today, and the lives we continue to lose from 9/11 related illness because that number is still growing.