The team didn't stay for much longer that day. They were kind of kicked out by the nurses when they came to check up on me and noticed everyone in the room. Morgan only got to stay because she had her own follow up appointment to attend. When I tried to go with her, Major Collins showed up and gave me a look and I knew she wouldn't let me leave the room. With a kiss, Morgan was gone and I laid back in bed for a few moments before I looked over at Annabelle.

"You look like you have some news for me." I said taking in her features.

"I do, because of your actions and all the intelligence we were able to pull off the servers from the computers you found in that building, we were able to turn the information over to Ukrainian forces and they were able to use a lot of it to expel most of the remaining Russian troops from there country. Also because of your quick thinking and action plan, the convoy made it out of the country safely and your team eliminated basically all the remaining Russian soldiers at the plant. When the convoy commander got all of the civilians to Poland, he started to ask about your team. It wasn't long before he was showing your face to anybody in American camos, wanting to know about what happened to you. When the President of Ukraine came during the night to see all of civilians that were rescued, the convoy commander told him about what you did. You're a hero to them." Major Collins said and pushed a copy of news paper in front of me.

When I picked it up, sitting on the cover page is the picture the convoy commander dragged me into. Throughout the news paper, there are other pictures of Gold team along with Alpha and Bravo team assisting everyone out of the bunker onto the waiting trucks. Almost everyone had smiles on there faces as we loaded them onto trucks to get out of the plant. If only we new what was going to happen only a few short minutes after that.

"I don't know how, but the go pro you were wearing recorded everything from the moment you left the alamo until you got into the helicopter. I used the footage as part of your official debrief, when you are released, we'll conduct a formal one in addition to that. The footage has been reviewed by basically everyone in command along with the president of the United States. We only made one small edit to the video. We cut the audio from after the explosion happened." Major Collins said. It took a second for me to remember that I wore a go-pro on the raid that night.

Now, almost three weeks removed from the mission, that night is still a bit hazy in my memory. Even though my short term memory improved to almost normal, parts of that night are lost in my mind. Maybe getting to watch the video back will help jog the missing part of my memory. While I have been doing PT to help get my body moving again, I have also been doing a lot of memory puzzles to try and work on my short term memory.

"Thank you for that." I said and finally put the paper down to look at her.

"I've fielded phone calls from a lot of people over the past three weeks but one that stuck out was from the President of Ukraine himself. He wants to met you in person and present you with a medal along with a unit citation for Gold Team. I've been pushing it off until you've recovered enough to entertain the conversation." Major Collins said and sat back in the seat.

"I'm no hero Annabelle. I did what I had to do to give the convoy enough time to try and get some distance in between them and the incoming Russian military. Anybody would have made that call." I said trying to reason with her, having a hard time believing that the President of the country wanted to see me.

"And while we could argue semantics forever, I was not going to argue with the President of the country we were just operating in. The meeting would be taking place in Poland, all three teams would go for it, shake some hands and then you'll be on the next flight out to the states in time for Christmas." Major Collins said.

"I don't really have much of a choice in this matter do I?" I asked even though I already knew what the answer was going to be.

"Not really no. I got a fresh set of camo and boots prepped for you whenever the doctor clears you to leave." Major Collins said.

"Alright. What's our team status right now?" I asked thinking back to what the team asked before.

"The team is all on leave till at least February. You have to be cleared for active duty again by a doctor. I have done my best to pull the team from circulation for now. There are other teams that can be called up. You guys need some rest." Major Collins said. I just nodded and put the newspaper she brought me into my bag before finally laying out in bed, sleep already calling me after such a busy morning.

It didn't take long before I ended up falling asleep. The next couple of days were more of the same. PT in the morning and after lunch. Each day we walked a bit more with and without the support of a walker. Then we started working on going up and down stairs. Members of the team were constantly in and out of my room to keep me company along with Morgan. She wasn't really that far from me the whole time.

I also finally got to call my parents. It was an emotional phone call that left all parties in tears. Just when I thought I would be able to escape after ten minutes, Dominic got on the phone and we all started crying again. Once I did finally get myself together, I ask if the news at home got anything about what happened to the team. Of course they told me that yes, my face ended up plastered all over the news when the photo's of my team and the convoy commander were posted online in Ukraine and they went viral.

After three more days of double PT sessions, Doctor Mayfield was comfortable enough to release me. I still have a long recovery ahead of me with a lot of follow up appointments already scheduled for when I get home. Once the paperwork was signed, Major Collins was at the hospital to bring me back to base. We wouldn't be here long, the plans already in motion to go to Poland and then the flight home.

I was barely able to put my stuff down in the room I'll be sleeping in tonight when Major Collins pulled me for my official debrief of the mission. While everything from the Mariupol mission got captured on my body cam footage, I needed to formally speak about it everything else that happened on our deployment. The debrief of the whole mission was long, pushing about five hours before we finally wrapped it up.

After we finished up, Major Collins let me watch back the go-pro footage from that night. Watching it over was weird. It put a weird anxious feeling in my chest. I knew mostly everything that was going to happen and when it was going to happen but it made me uneasy to watch it. I fast forwarded through a lot of the beginning of the night, only slowly down again when we started to clear the six story building. Watching myself get shot was hard. When I went down, I could hear myself groaning in pain, barely able to get a breath in, while the rest of my teammates returned fire and called out for me to see if I was alive. Getting to see the scared look on Morgan and Warrens face as they started to pull my vest off of me to check the damage was something I don't think I'll ever forget.

From there, I fast forwarded the video again. There was a lot more standing around before we left the P.O.W.'s behind in the building to finish the march towards the bunker. Actually watching through the footage of us getting into the bunker in the beginning put a smile on my face. We could clearly see how excited and happy the civilians who were inside were. The next part with the convoy commander brought tears to my eyes, seeing how happy he was for us to get everyone that was alive inside out and safely over to the trucks. I completely forgot about when the helicopters flew in to take the critically wounded out.

It was after those moments when the video change. The radio call that came in from Bravo team about the incoming Russian military. My no nonsense voice when I told the convoy commander he needed to take the convoy and go. How he pleaded with me to leave a few of his teams behind to help us but I kept refusing, only asking for the trucks and the launcher systems from him before he finally left us so we could get to work.

I played the next part at half fast forward, I knew that Monica and Akito were blowing up the Russians to start and two of our guys were on the roof to take care of the rest. It was only after the second explosion that I hit play at normal speed. The fire fight between the remaining Russian soldiers and us only lasted about a half an hour until Morgan was shot. I kept myself calm as I helped Morgan and tried to control the bleeding while waiting for Emmett and Cosima to come. As the video continued to play, Major Collins actually hit stop. When I turned to look at her, she didn't have a pleasant expression on her face.

"I need to see it" I said, only once, firm but soft at the same time. I needed to see what happened to me and the aftermath if I'm going to be able to move on. With one final look she hit play but turned away from the screen.

The camera was able to pick up someone saying RPG, but I couldn't tell who as it was to far away. Though you couldn't see her face in the video, I saw Morgan's hand grip onto the front of my vest. I was able to hear myself say 'I love you' before the deafening explosion ripped into the rubble next to me. The video was mostly static but it cleared after a few moments and all I could see was darkness. It took a few long moments before I heard Morgan calling out my name. When I didn't answer her, her calls became more desperate. Then all of a sudden, the black of the video gave way to light and I saw her face over me. Panic and tears rushed through her face as she started yelling out my name. When she yelled out her first I love you, I had to turn the video off. The desperation in her voice to have me say it back was something that was going to make me throw up.

I couldn't say anything to Major Collins as I picked up the few things I brought with me and left the debriefing room. When I made it back to our teams common room, I found Ryan and Raymond waiting just inside. It was a welcome distraction to everything that I just watched. They both gave me smiles as I walked in to greet them. Hugs were gentle with my chest still being in pain, but welcomed by both team leaders. We got to hang out for a while before I had to get ready for afternoon PT but I was surprised to see both of them wanting to come with me.

They kept me motivated during the session as we started to work on more stairs. Each one of them were like little devils. Even though going up the stairs weren't to hard, I kept forgetting that for every step I went up, I had to go back down. At the end of the session, the guys had to push me back to the common room in a wheel chair because I had no energy left in me to walk by myself. As we made it back to the common room, a few of my teammates were concerned to see me so out of it but I waved them off as Rob came over and helped me onto the couch were I promptly fell asleep for a nap.

Morgan woke me up for dinner later that night, which was brought to me from the mess hall so I wouldn't have to make the trek all the way there. Just as we were finishing up, Major Collins came into the common room and gave us our orders about our departure. We are leaving for Poland early tomorrow morning for the ceremony before we would be flying out tomorrow night for the states, where we will be landing in Fort Bragg. While we were in Poland, we were going to be picking up a lot of people who were working in the command center while we were out on mission, most of which were stationed in Fort Bragg. After we get off in Fort Bragg, a second plane will bring the rest of the team over to Fort Benning.

With our orders set, we were all off to finish packing up everything we had with us. When I tried to asked about where all my gear ended up, Major Collins told me that it was already packed up and it will be waiting for me in my cage back on base when I was ready for it. Monica and Rob did give me back my duffle bag that I left behind in Poland, and then the backpack I brought with me into Ukraine. Even though it hurt, I packed everything up and had Rob move it back with everyone else's gear that's going to be collected and loaded onto the plane.

That night sleep came easy. The next morning I was up early as I wanted to shower before we headed out on the plane. That was a challenge though. Morgan disappeared early, something about an intelligence issue so I ended up finding Monica while she was finishing breakfast. I tried not to make it weird when I asked if she could help me in the shower, not wanting to bring up some really old feelings. But Monica didn't bat an eye, only telling me that she needed to get in the shower anyway. It was hard the first few seconds when I had her help me unravel all the bandages holding my chest together.

This was the first time I really had a chance to look at my chest in the mirror. It was usually always covered by something but seeing all of the stitches and bruising in my skin made it finally sink in, I really almost died. If those helicopters didn't come back for me, I would have died in the ruins of that building. Choking back tears, I finally got myself into the shower and let Monica help me through it.

Once I was done, Monica left me in the bathroom for a moment and came back with Cosima. Cosima checked out all of my stitches to make sure they were still looking good before she helped bandaged me back up. After the wrap was in place around my ribs again, it was a bit easier to breath. They both gave me a wide birth after the shower. I had to sit alone with it for a few more minutes before I was able to make it back to my room to start getting dressed. I didn't really get that far into getting dressed before I got stuck though. I had to call for Monica to help me get into a bra for the first time in three weeks. It was hard to wear, the pressure was too much on top of the bandages so I made Monica take it back off.

Monica helped me into my green army t-shirt before we moved onto the pants. Just as we were about to work on getting my boots laced up, Major Collins appeared in the doorway. Monica quickly helped me into my boots before getting up and sitting next to me on the bed. Major Collins didn't say anything but just held up a simple green Army sweatshirt that was large enough to hid all of the bandages and the fact that I couldn't wear a bra right now. I almost cried when she helped me into it.

I think Monica could sense something deeper going on right now so she just gave my shoulder a squeeze before closing the door behind herself, leaving Annabelle and I alone. When it felt like I wasn't choking on my own tongue, I let out a shaky breath.

"My chest is a mess Annabelle."

"I know, give it some time and the bruising will fade, the stitches will come out and it will heal. But for now, it will be a mess." Annabelle said. I could only nod and wipe my face of the few tears that fell.

"We need to head over to the plane in a few. I have a jacket ready for you as well along with food for you to eat with your medication. But before we go, we need to do something with your hair." Annabelle said. I could only nod as she helped me up off the bed and back into the bathroom. I didn't say much as she brushed my hair out and put it back in bun.

As we were finishing up the door to my room opened and Morgan walked in, dressed and ready to go. When she took in the scene, she halted in place and gave me a look. I just shook my head for now to tell her to drop it. Annabelle lead me out of the bathroom and into the common room to hand me off a breakfast burrito. It didn't take long for me to wolf it down and once it was gone, Morgan gave me a cup with my pills in it. I was able to wash those down a large cup of water before the three of us got up and made our way out of the room.

I didn't even bother looking for my gear because I was sure someone already took it over to the plane. When we got the plane, I was happy to see my team dressed in uniform and ready for what is about to be long day.

The flight back to Poland took less then two hours. It was uncomfortable for me, my chest in pain from sitting completely up right against the hull of the aircraft as I couldn't lay down. When we touched down, Major Collins had everything lined up for us. We got off the plane to the waiting trucks and they brought us over to the building were the ceremony would be taking place. I tried to keep my head down and focused on putting one foot in front of the other but I didn't make it far before Emmett was behind me with a wheel chair.

We were lead into a room with a bunch of tables and chairs and Emmett just pushed the wheel chair into one of the tables for a moment until we knew where we needed to go. Major Collins went to speak with some important people as Emmett passed me a bottle of water. I took small sips and kept the water bottle with me when Major Collins came back over to us. She gave out strict instruction on what everyone could do during the ceremony before I saw Ryan and Raymond from the corner of my eye. They will both be flanking me so I could use them for support when going up onto the stage. The rest of the team will be waiting in the stands not far from us.

With our marching orders in place, everyone started to move. Emmett pushed me out towards the end of the group over to the stage. Ryan and Raymond were waiting for me by the three little stairs that lead to the stage and held out there arms. They were right by my side as I got up and slowly made my way up the stairs.

When we got onto the stage I took a few hard breaths and took a seat in one of the four chairs that were available. Looking out at the crowd I could see a lot of our military personal along with people I recognized from the bunker. Ivan and Denys were sitting next to each other, not far from the convoy commander, who was one of the lucky few who were in the front row. A murmuring started from the crowd a minute after we arrived and just before I could ask Ryan what was going on, a few big men in gear, walked in and another minute later the President of Ukraine followed behind them.

Most of the military personal were on there feet to salute the President, but when I tried to get up, I couldn't find the energy to do so. Ryan rested his hand on my shoulder as he saluted the President. The President saluted everyone back and then called for everyone to be seated. Major Collins let us know before hand that he was going to deliver his address first in Ukrainian before giving it again in English. For a while, most of his speech went in one ear and out the other, but for the most part I was lost.

When my eyes connected with Morgans in the crowd, she gave me a watery smile before she focused back on what the President was saying. At the end of his address in Ukrainian, there was a long round of applause that lasted a while before the President got it under control. He gave us all a smile before he turned back to the podium and started his speech over in English.

"Thank you everyone for being here today, I know it has been a challenging few weeks for everyone involved and I wanted to be able to deliver this address in person. I would like to give my deepest thanks to all of those at the UN and NATO who answered the call to help our nation defend our boarders. It did not come without sacrifice and I wanted to bring attention to that today." The President started.

I was a little surprised to hear how well his English was as the President continued on with his speech, I made sure to pay closer attention.

"It comes with great pleasure to announce that from our latest reports, all Russian troops have abandoned there posts and have either turned themselves over to us, or returned to Russia. Details are going to be changing as the days come and go, but for now, we are free." The President said with a smile and I couldn't help the tears that started to water in my eyes, knowing that we played a big part in making this a reality.

"We are here together today to honor some of our brave and daring military supporters. If you are able, Staff Sergeant Donovan, please stand." The President asked and turned towards us. I knew now was the time to push myself. Ryan and Raymond stood and I was able to hold onto there arms to help pull myself up. Once I was steady I turned my attention to the President and gave him a nod.

"Tasked with getting to the bunker underneath Azovstal Steel Plant to free the civilians and soldiers trapped inside by Russian insurgents, Staff Sergeant Donovan made a plan when they arrived in country to work towards Azovstal. It took two months to get there but her team did it. With help from two additional teams, lead by Master Sergeant Strome and Master Sergeant Cortez, they cleared the plant and got to the bunker.

"Together, the teams were able to help get everyone out. Because of there actions, those that needed medical attention were flown here and treated. Everyone you put on those trucks and helicopters are alive because of your actions that day. From what I was told, after everyone was secured to move out, there was a moment of peace between the two forces to share in the great feet that was just accomplished. But just when they thought everything was clear, Russian troops had started to return to the base.

"Staff Sergeant took control of the situation and made a plan, for her and the other two teams to stay behind to hold the Russian army off giving the convoy time to escape the plant. She used everything at her disposal to eliminate the enemy. Just when the fire fight was dying down, a member of her team was shot. Staff Sergeant rendered aid while waiting for the medic to arrive." The President said.

I had to clench my jaw, I'm going to have to relive this moment forever. The moment flashing behind my eyes as Morgan let out a scream of pain before going down. Me rushing over to her to try and stop the bleeding before Emmett could get there. Then the explosion and the feeling of hitting that piler.

"Before help could arrive, an explosion went off and severally injured Staff Sergeant Donovan. Because of her actions that day, I would like to award her with this Medal of Valor along with a citation for her unit's bravery that day in securing the plant and helping get over 2,000 civilians and soldiers to safety." The President said before picking up the medal from the podium and walking over to me.

He very carefully clipped the medal towards the top of my sweatshirt, avoiding my chest as if he knew where I was injured, before he went back over to the podium and picked up the citation, which was in a leather bound folder. He held it out to me in one hand while I shook the other.

"Thank you sir." I said.

"No, thank you for your service and helping get my people to safety and helping free my country from a madman." The President said quietly just for me to hear. I could only nod and give his hand a firmer shake.

When we let go, the President went back to the podium to finish up his speech. He also presented Ryan and Raymond with medals as well, though, not the same as what he gave to me. After the speech was over, we were free. Lunch was being served in the room we first came through before we would get back onto the plane to fly home.

I was barely able to make it off the stage before Emmett basically pushed me into a wheel chair. When we got to the meeting room, it was full of people from the base that I recognized and I knew I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible to avoid getting pulled into conversation with others I have worked with before. Emmett pushed me towards the table closest to the door before sending someone off to get something before he sat down on one side of me while Cosima took the other.

"I'm going to need the pain medication before the flight, but if I take it now I'll be out cold in about an hour." I said as Emmett took hold of my wrist to check my pulse.

"Food first, then pills. We have a stretcher already set up for you on the plane, after we are done here we will go get on board and strap you in for the flight and you can sleep." Emmett said and let go of my wrist when a plate of food was put in front of me. I didn't really have much else to say after that, so I slowly tucked into my food. I didn't want to go to hard because I knew that sometimes my stomach didn't handle the pills well and the last thing I want to is to be sick on the plane later.

As I ate, I looked around the room. We were mostly in the company of other soldiers but also some civilians. I was able to recognize a few from seeing them in the bunker. It made me happy to see them also recovering from being underground for so long. Just as I was finishing up lunch, the convoy commander made his way over to me. Cosima quickly got up from the seat she was sitting in and offered it to him. He thanked her and sat down, but Cosima stayed closed as she knew we would most likely need a translator. He offered me a smile before he held out his hand.

I quickly used a napkin to clean myself up and shook his outstretched hand. His hands are large, both of them easily dwarfing mine in it's hold. I had a sense he didn't want to let go of mine yet so I looked up at him. He has tears in his eyes and as bowed his head for a moment to collect himself before looking at me once again. It took him a few seconds but he started to speak in Ukrainian. I didn't bother looking up at Cosima because I knew she would tell me what he said once he finished speaking.

"Thank you for everything that you did. Without you and your teams, it would have taken us months to be in this position. Because of you, we saved so many lives. If you didn't stay behind, we would have all been in the crossfire and it would have ended up taking lives." Cosima said to me. I met her eyes and she gave me a nod before I looked back at him.

"Commander, I was only doing my job. To protect and serve. My unit in the army has a motto, Rangers lead the way. We led the way to get to the bunker, and you led the way to get your people to freedom." I said still trying to deflect some of the praise I was getting. It took Cosima a minute to translate it back to the Commander but when she was done he had a wise look on his face.

"I would follow your lead wherever you go boss." Cosima translated back to me.

Before I could answer him, someone called out the name Alexei and he turned around. When he saw who it was, Alexei gave my hand another squeeze before letting it go and getting up from the table. Just when my eyes followed to where Alexei moved to, I saw the President of Ukraine now standing in front of me.

It took a second for it to sink in but once it did, I tried to push myself out of the chair but could feel my arms starting to shake from the fatigue of the day setting in. The President noticed my struggle and sat down in the chair Alexei just got up from.

"Please don't get up, I was hoping to speak to you for a moment before I depart if you are well." The President said and I almost flopped back in the chair, grimacing in pain for a moment as I tried to get a deep breath in.

"Of course Mister President." I said once I recovered from the pain and the shock of having him sit in front of me.

"It will take some time before my country returns back to what it was before the bombs started to fall. It will take even longer before our citizens feel safe enough to return home. But when that day does come, I would like to show you the beauty of our country. This is for you, but you are not allowed to read it until you get in your plane on your way home, deal?" The President said and handed me a large manila envelope that was sealed shut.

"I hope that your country will be restored to its beauty sooner then later Mister President and of course, only when I get onto the plane." I said taking the envelope from him. Whatever was inside of it must be a lot because it's heavy so I had to quickly put it down on my lap.

"Be well Daniella, thank you again for all you did for the people of my country." The President said before shaking my hand. Before I could even say anything in response to him, he was up and out of the chair, making his exit with his security detail.

"You were just talking to the president of the country." Emmett said from behind me.

"Yup" I answered and looked down at the envelope. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it, just my name written in beautiful script on one side.

"This day has been wild." Emmett said before pushing me a little cup with my pills inside and a bottle of water. The pills went down quickly and when I was finished with the water, I was ready to go.

a/n: there was a lot I needed to include in this chapter and I wasn't going to split it up. so here is an extra long chapter. tbh, all these last five chapters are going to be really long as I have a lot I want to include but not enough time to do it.

I wanted to be respectful of the current situation going on still in Ukraine but wanted to give this story a better ending then what is still happening there currently. In real life, the UN was able to free the people from the bunkers but from what I understand and have been able to find and read, a lot of the soldiers that took cover there, had to surrender themselves to the Russian army before there was a prisoner exchange that saw that most of them were freed. All that information I got was in the New York Times article I linked a few chapters back.

song on the side is Leave the City by 21Pilots. Fitting song, the team is finally going home.