Being in a warzone warps your sense of time. Since we got to Mariupol things have been a go nonstop. And with me being the captain of the ship, I don't really get down time. Since we started to make ourselves at home in this warehouse, I barely sleep anymore. We are coming up on day 42 of living here and unfortunately, this warehouse has become our home away from home.

We are southwest of the main part of the city and have been able to blend into the neighborhood pretty well at first. Our first few days here it was hard to think about going out onto the street in the few pairs of regular clothes I have but it was necessary. We all needed to get a lay of the land and the neighborhood we were now calling home. Daily patrols have become a way for us to scope out the area, stretch our legs and get some essentials like more warm clothing and some fresh food. But the longer we have been here, both have become hard to find.

Since we established our base, we have only gotten one supply shipment. Because of where we are, getting supplies to us has been almost impossible. When we got into our second week here, I had to make a list of everything we could need for at least the next thirty days. Apparently, all my complaining to Major Collins about how hard the floor was made an impression because when we eventually got the supply shipment I found 13 cots with pillows and blankets. The sight of them brought tears to my eyes at the thought of not having to sleep on the hard cold floor anymore. Also included in the shipment was more ammo and explosives, plenty of boxes of MREs, additional medical supplies, cold weather gear, cash and prepaid burner phones.

When I saw the phones I made sure nobody touched them until I spoke with Major Collins about them. She told me that since this mission is going to stretch out longer then any of us thought and since there was no way for us to send or receive mail, she had the phones sent to us so we could call home. The news brought tears to almost everyone's eyes when I delivered the news to the team.

Everyone had there own phone to use and I wrote everyone's name on the back of them. Once they were done with there call, I took the phones back and powered them down right away. I couldn't run the risk of anyone on the team making additional calls right now that could put our location in jeopardy. Though when I finally had the chance to call home I almost ended up sobbing once Peyton picked up the phone. I was able to time the call right so both mom and Peyton were home and awake and getting the chance to speak to both of them helped me move forward with our mission here. Towards the end of the call when I spoke to Peyton alone, I asked about Kuzma. Peyton told me she has a team working to get over to Petro's farm to see if they could help get him settled somewhere. The relief I felt when she gave me the news also took some stress off of me.

Since leaving him behind with Petro, there hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't thought about him. Whenever airstrikes would come from above, I would always hope and pray that they would miss the farm and hit far away from them so that he will be safe. Just the thought that he is in good hands was enough for me to power through patrols.

Once we got all of the new supplies things were looking up for the team. Moral was better now that everyone had some warm jackets and pants to wear. Then they started to dive when the unexpected missile strikes started happening, including night raids from Russian troops. There have been a lot of nights where the missiles have hit to close for comfort. The longer we have been here, the more airstrikes have come down. Pretty soon, I don't know if there will be any more buildings still standing for the Russian military to hit. Those are the worst nights, just when you think you can finally have some solid sleep, it feels and sounds like the world is ending.

Whenever we are close enough to feel the missiles dropping I do send out a small team to help anybody affected. But as of lately, the damage has been done. We have been finding more dead bodies in the streets then alive ones. Most civilians have either fled for there lives, stayed and are hiding in the few bunkers attached to their homes or have picked up arms to try and fight off the Russian troops who moved into the city so quickly it was hard for anybody to get a handle on it. From what we have seen so far, there have been little Ukrainian troop presence here.

Over the course of the month, Major Collins has been kept abreast of everything we have encountered. She's always in the loop on what targets we've hit and where the last missiles have fallen. But we are starting to get to a point where there are more places where bombs haven't hit then have. When we hit the 30-day mark, she even gave me an update on Alpha and Bravo team. Both teams are somehow managing to hold Chernobyl for now and have set up a solid perimeter around the plant. They believe that as long as the Ukrainian military holds the positions they set up, they can fall back.

As for our team, we have been making slow progress of taking care of Russian troops in the area. With the intel we have gathered along from patrolling around the area and just talking with the few civilians in the neighborhood we settled in, I have been starting to make a plan on how to take the plant. Now that we have been able to push the Russian troops from this area of the city, and they seem to have fallen back, we are going to need to relocate closer to the plant.

So I put a team together of Monica, Micah, Warren, Beth and myself to take a drive at dusk to scout out new potential homes for us to use. The closer we got to the plant; the more devastation we saw. Bodies lined the streets of all ages, homes nothing more then rubble. Some civilians cooking outside with wood salvaged from destroyed homes. Most of the trees we saw were blown to pieces, none of them have leaves anymore. The city looked dead.

Russian troop presence was heavy the closer we got to the plant. So heavy I almost wanted to ditch the truck and go on foot. But the thing that alarmed me was not only the amount of troops on hand but the tanks and artillery trucks they have on standby. All of them ready on standby for orders. The first night we went out towards the plant was a bad one. There were almost constant missile strikes near by and we had no choice but to wait them out in the truck until they stopped. Nobody moved, nobody breathed while the missiles rained down from the sky a few blocks over as the truck shook from the blasts. I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack in the passenger seat. But finally they stopped and all I could hear was the popping sounds of fire and rubble falling. When we all came back to our senses, I noticed that somehow, in all of our panic, we grabbed each others hands. Warren only switched hands so he could still hold onto us while he drove us back to the alamo.

It took a couple of days to regain my nerve to go back out into the field to finish the search. The same group piled back into the truck and we set off to find a building that was close to the plant, still standing, had working electric, running water and a working bathroom. It was a lot to wish for, but if we wanted to even try and be successful at this mission, we were going to need a few of those things. When we pulled onto the block I could see one building in a group of three that was somehow untouched from the missiles. The buildings either side of them weren't so lucky.

Warren stayed behind in the truck while Monica, Micah, Beth and myself all got out to raid the building. When we got inside, I could tell that someone has already used this building for something. Old clothes were on the floor, old newspapers were on the table and a few maps of Ukraine were taped to the wall. While going through the three-story house, I was able to check off the two other things on my wish list, running water and a working bathroom and an important one that I just realized, has a tall fencing around the property that can hide the trucks.

With the new place locked down we all went back outside to find Warren ready to take us back to the warehouse. After we got back, I gave the order to start packing everything up to take with us over to the new place. The house was pretty empty so most of the cots are going to be coming with us.

It took a few days of packing and organizing to get everything into the trucks to be brought over to the new location. It took two trips with all three trucks to get everything over here. I split the team in half so one half could start to move stuff inside and the other would finish up bringing everything over. All of the moving was done at night with no lights to hopefully avoid drawing attention to ourselves. As we moved into the house, some how, Morgan and I ended up in one of the few bedrooms with an actual bed. It was on the first floor, not far off from the kitchen.

I tried not to think about it while Morgan and I set up the room and a table for our command post. While Morgan started to get everything online, I was the first person to jump into the shower. Standing under the warm stream of water for the first time in over a month actually brought tears to my eyes. When I was done, I didn't want to get out, the water felt so good on my skin that being clean again left me no desire to jump back into dirty clothes. But finally, I got out of the shower and made my way back to the room I was sharing with Morgan. She was still sitting in the chair I left her. I just pressed a kiss to her head before laying down on the bed for a few moments.

"We need to start watch up again tonight, what time do you want?" I asked.

"We aren't doing watch tonight. I've already pulled rank and told Rob and Monica you have the night off and we weren't to be bothered unless the sky was falling. You need a break and some actual sleep Daniella." Morgan said after turning to face me.

"I can't just take days off Morgan; this isn't a 9-5." I said already starting to sit up in bed. Before I could get all the way up, Morgan launched herself out of the chair and onto my lap, forcing me to lay back down.

"Yes you can. You have a night off. I'm going to go shower and change and then we are going to bed and not waking up until tomorrow morning." Morgan said with some force.

"What, no dinner?" I asked as Morgan got off of me to start to collect some clothes for her shower.

"I'll give you something to eat." Morgan said and stalked back over to me. Morgan gave me a serious look and I knew if I moved off this bed, I'll be in trouble.

With one final look, Morgan was out the door and shut it behind her. I tried to let myself relax but it was hard. We finally got ourselves into position to be able to accomplish our mission and now Morgan wants me to take a night off? Just as I was about to get up off the bed the door opened and I turned to see Rob come in and shut the door behind himself.

"I was given very strict instructions not to let you get up for anything work related." Rob said and sat down in one of the chairs I dragged into the room earlier. He propped his feet up on the edge of the bed and gave me a look. "Your girlfriend can be scary when she wants to be." I couldn't help but laugh at him and wipe my face with my hands.

"She can be when she wants to get her way, which it looks like she got." I answered and felt some stress come off my back.

"Seriously though, Monica and I got everything handled for night watch. Don't think that we haven't seen how exhausted you've been. You've been able to give all of us some extra breaks and now it's time for us to return the favor." Rob said and leaned back on the chair a little bit.

"I don't think I know how to relax anymore." I admitted as I sank into bed.

"I don't think any of us do anymore, but can you do me a favor?" Rob asked.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Hold your girlfriend close tonight. Make her feel loved because I know you have been busy taking care of everyone else, but she has been the one to make sure you're okay. Now I think it's time for you to return that to her." Rob said. I could only nod at him and we fell into a comfortable silence. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky tonight and not have any missile strikes to wake us up.

Morgan came back into the room a few minutes later looking refreshed. As she put her dirty clothes into a pile, Rob wished us both a good night before leaving us alone. Morgan closed the last of the shades and turned out the lights then joined me under the covers. I pulled her into my arms and held her tight, thinking of Robs words. I held onto her for a few long minutes before I pulled away from her a little bit to lean down and press a kiss on her lips. The first one we have had in almost two weeks.

The kiss quickly turned heated as we both missed the intimacy of being close to each other. Even though we set up next to each other on in the warehouse, with no rooms, we couldn't sneak around. We only managed a few stolen kisses when we went up to the roof for watch. I let my hands wander as we kept our lips locked together. The only time they broke apart was to get some air. Then I let my hands wander lower and slipped into her sleep shorts to feel her up. Morgan pulled her lips away from mine and looked at me.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I wish I could go back to that night we shared in Poland before we came here just so I could be with you again." I said my chest heaving.

"Oh baby girl, you are going to get us both in trouble." Morgan said with a sigh as I started to feel her wetness seep through her underwear.

"As long as you keep quiet, nobody is going to know." I said wanting so desperately to have this stolen moment with her.

"Fine, but we are going to do this together." Morgan said and moved her hand and slipped it into my shorts and underwear without any push back from me.

"Together then" I breathed out as Morgan ran her fingers over my mound before plunging two inside. I followed her lead and pressed two into her as well.

We worked each other up together, pressing our lips to each others to stop loud moans from escaping the confines of our little bubble. When I started to get close I opened my eyes to find Morgan already staring back at me.

"Together" Morgan said as I felt her walls start to contract.

"Forever" I answered as we both came together.

It took a while for both of us to calm down afterwards, still to wrapped up in each other. But finally we both pulled out of each other and I truly started to feel the tiredness skin in my bones.

"Did you mean it?" Morgan asked quietly on the edge of sleep.

"Did I mean what?" I asked barely able to keep my eyes open.

"Together, forever?" Morgan asked. I pulled Morgan tightly into me and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm in this until the wheels fall off babe, forever." I answered. I could feel Morgan's smile against my neck and she pressed a kiss to it before we finally feel asleep.

***

Last night was the first full night of sleep I have gotten since we've been in country. I actually slept all the way till noon when Morgan finally woke me up. When I saw what time it was I almost wanted to be mad but I knew she was right. I needed that night of sleep more then anything and to be able to do it while being wrapped up in Morgans arms just made it better.

When I finally got out of bed I noticed at all of my backpack was unpacked and all of my clothes were neatly folded but most importantly, they looked clean. I turned my attention to Morgan and found her sitting on the edge of the bed with two mugs in hand.

"There's a washer dryer here in the house with some soap. The team has been doing laundry all night. When I woke up earlier, I did all our clothes. But this is for you and it's still hot." Morgan said and held out a mug of coffee. I walked over to her and ran my hands across her jaw to tilt her head up for me to lean down and press a kiss too. After I pulled away I took the mug from her and took a sip of the coffee. There was no milk but a lot of sugar. After a few sips I could feel the caffeine started to make it's way through my system.

I didn't bother changing into any gear before I walked out of our room. Most of the team was lounging around the house. When I found Rob in kitchen I put my mug down on the counter and wrapped my arms around him for a hug. He didn't say anything as he held onto me. Finally when I let go of him I picked up my mug again and found an MRE for brunch. Monica and Felix joined me at the table shortly after I started to open up the MRE. The three of us ate together and after I was finished I retreated back to my room.

Morgan was laying in bed when I got back into the room. So I went over to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead before I started to pull out all of our intel. It didn't take long for me to run out of room on the wall so I had to lay out some of it on the floor. With the sun shining through the windows, I sat down in the chair with my notebook and got to work.

It didn't take long to put together a schedule for basic chores of the house. Even though we are going to have some downtime, I wanted everyone to have some thing to do and be responsible for everyday. Then came to preparing a schedule for patrols and scouting. I wanted to be here at least a week getting a lay of the land and who, if anybody, could be trusted before we pivot to the surveillance of the plant. Coming up with these plans took about all day. Morgan filtered in and out of the room while I was drafting these plans. Once I moved to sit on the floor, she came over to me and sat down next to me. Nothing needed to be said between us, just sitting with some of our body parts touching was enough to help quell my building anxiety over what was about to come.

After going over the plans twice to make sure there were no gaps and showing them to Morgan to make sure everything looked okay, I looked around and realized it was already pushing dinner time. When I tried to push myself up off the floor my back locked up and it took a few second for it to release before I could move. A groan slipped pass my lips and I stood up and bent my back back trying to pop it.

"Getting old aren't you?" Monica asked from the doorway. I rolled my eyes at her and felt my back pop into place.

"Twenty-eight isn't that old Monica, did you need something?" I asked and collected the papers I needed.

"The team was getting settled for dinner if you want to join but if you have a second I wanted to talk to you both about something privately." Monica asked looking between Morgan and I.

"Sure thing, what's up?" I asked and Monica closed the door behind herself.

"You can tell me to leave if you don't want to answer but someone on the team started a rumor that there is something going on between you and Morgan. I wanted to bring it up to you before you heard it by accident from someone else with a big mouth." Monica said.

I gave Monica a stare and clenched my jaw before putting down the notebook before running a hand threw my hair. I took a glance at Morgan and could see she was about ready to jump off the floor and hit something. If people started to guess then we might have slipped up somewhere. Rob knowing about us is one thing, he is like another brother to me after everything we've been through together, but the rest of the team, that's a whole other story.

"Please tell me the truth and don't sugar coat it, did someone say they saw us do something specific together?" I asked wanting to get to the bottom of the rumor and see if I can catch someone in a lie.

"For one thing, I think they just need something to gossip about to keep things interesting. But it's also about all of the time you guys spend together and they know that you're gay. Even though Morgan has come around a lot more over the years, nobody has gotten a good read on her personal life. But if they find out that you guys have a house together, it's not going to take long to put two and two together." Monica said.

"And how long have you known we're together?" I asked testing her.

"I think I've always known there has been a thing between you two, even when we had our own fling back in the day. But after the whole, 'Morgan isn't leaving my side' talk we had in the hanger before we left Poland, I started to read between the lines. Then I remembered the deployment question you answered, your whole two great loves, and that one of them is current. It looks like things finally fell in place." Monica said and gave us both a smile.

"Yea, we finally pulled our heads out of our asses, Dad helped a bit, but until I'm out of these camo's, nobody can know. There is the whole chain of command thing to worry about which is why only a handful of people know about us." I said explaining a bit as Morgan still remained silent.

"Already talking about retirement, see, you are getting old." Monica said trying to crack a joke to lighten the seriousness of the conversation.

I couldn't help but punch her, but that I think ended up hurting my hand more then her arm as she just laughed me off.

"Yea, that retirement is going to be a real thing after my contract is up, but I think Morgan might stick around a little bit longer. Can you please let me know if there is more rumors about us or if they get worse or if they touch a little too close to the truth? But enough about this, lets go have dinner with the rest of the rugrats." I said and grabbed my notebook from where I put it. Monica nodded and left the room but I stayed put for a minute to take in Morgan.

She looked mad still. To be honest I am too. I hate that we have become the but of the joke to keep the team entertained. It made a pit form in my stomach, one I know I'm going to have to address with the team later, but for now I just want to make sure that my girlfriend is okay. I walked over to her and crouched down on the floor to be eye level with her. Morgan's eyes found mine and they watered a bit.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm going to take care of it. We are going to have to distances ourselves for a little bit until this settles down though." I said. Morgan nodded and I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips. "Met us out there when you're ready."

After I left our room, I found the team all sitting around the kitchen table just starting to open up there MRE's for the night. I took a seat in between Felix and Micah and accepted the one that was given to me. About five minutes into me opening up my dinner, Morgan took a seat at the other end of the table, a cool mask of indifference on her face. Dinner was a quiet affair as we were all focused on eating while trying to block out the sounds of gun fire and a few missile strikes in the background. After we were pretty much all done, I pulled out my notebook and started to go over the plans I spent all day drafting.

The team took to the plans pretty well. Rob and Monica asked questions here and there about a few different things but other then that, the team was brought up to speed pretty quickly. After I gave everyone the low down, I asked about the watch schedule tonight to add myself back into it. But that was quickly shot down by Rob and Monica, in front of the whole team. They wanted me to get another night of sleep before I was back on watch, especially since I wanted to put this plan in motion.

I grumbled but eventually agreed and cleaned up the last of the MRE I wasn't going to eat. After getting cleaned up in the bathroom, I made it to bed and laid down for a few minutes before the door opened. Morgan came in and turned the lights out before joining me in bed. Morgan pulled me into her arms and I relaxed into her chest.

"I'll be with you for most of the night but I added myself onto watch duty with Rob." Morgan said. I pressed a kiss to her neck and mumbled an I love you to her skin before I felt myself give in to sleep.

a/n: kind of long, kind of an info dump, also needed to move the story along somehow, so we get a time jump. we also now have some team tension, any thoughts on what's going to happen between our love birds?

song on the side is called All I Need to Hear by The 1975. It came on while I was writing that little scene between Morgan and Dani, so you're welcome for that.