Over the course of my military career, I have never experienced a worse injury to recuperate from then a broken ribs. Now, times that by four, and the fun real beings. The first week at moms house was a world wind. Getting used to the fact that I basically have a kid, my body being half broken, Morgan being here and mine in all the ways I have wanted for years, trying to adjust back to civilian life at home and not worry about bombs that could come raining down from the sky at any moment and kill us along with the jetlag from the time difference, there was a lot going on.

I knew that I didn't want to stay with moms forever, but being here around them again made it hard to leave. After talking it over with Morgan, we decided to stay for a month. It would give me some more time to recoup from my injury and to just have the extra help with getting Kuzma adjusted. The day after we got home, Mom and Peyton gave us the run down of what happened while Dominic took Kuzma out for lunch.

When I called Peyton from the farm, she put her team to work in getting to him. They got to the farm about a week after the call. From there, Petro gave them some more information about where Kuzma lived and the team went over to his house to try and find any documents for him. They were able to find some things but not a lot. From there Peyton and her team did a deep dive to see if there was he had any remaining next of kin. After a long search with all the information they were able to find, there were no results. Once Peyton was sure, she got Major Collins involved and the team brought Kuzma to the base in Poland. Even though Emmett reset his arm that night, it wasn't healing straight so he needed surgery to have the bone rebroken and fixed so he wouldn't have any issues later in life with it.

He stayed on base with other refugees while he was recuperating. With Major Collins' help, Peyton started to file paperwork to try and get Kuzma refugee status so they could send him here to be with moms. The paperwork was stalled in the overworked system so Kuzma just stayed on base while we worked our way through Ukraine. After our mission success and my picture went viral, the President of Ukraine wanted to set up a ceremony to meet us and Major Collins was able to tell him about Kuzma and what we did that night in Mykolaiv.

From there it was worked out by the President. Kuzma's paperwork came through and Major Collins was able to put him on a plane heading to Fort Bragg where Peyton and Mom picked him up. He was here for about two weeks before we came home. The paperwork the President of Ukraine gave me was the final approved documents. From here, I have to apply to formally adopt Kuzma, which apparently, is already pending, just waiting for the court date home in Georgia.

It was a lot to take in. The fact that everyone was working behind the scenes to get Kuzma here, and the fact the Morgan even helped them during this too once she woke up from her own surgery in Poland. While Peyton knew a few languages, Ukrainian wasn't one of them. So often times they would have her translate. I was disappointed nobody told me, but at the same time I understood. I was barely able to hold it together when I finally got to see Morgan again, if they told me about Kuzma, I probably would have flown the coup to get home as fast as I could. The conversation I had with the President of Ukraine when he gave me the documents also started to make sense now. One day, I do want to bring Kuzma back to Ukraine so he can still feel connected to his home country.

The information was a lot to take in. By the time they were done, I had a lot to work through my brain. After taking a few minutes to let it all sink in, I asked if we could have Kuzma's parents buried. Nobody ever mentioned what happened to there bodies after Peytons team went back to the apartment. Peyton gave me a sad smile before handing me a piece of paper. On it was a location and Kuzma's parents names. It took a second for me to realize what the latitude and longitude were and I gave squeezed her hand.

So along with recovering, getting used to having Kuzma, Morgan being by my side, she was also teaching us all Ukrainian so we could speak to Kuzma in his language while also helping him get better with his English. Ukrainian wasn't too hard for me to pick up, already knowing Russian. For Mom, Peyton and Dominic, it was a challenge. Kuzma found it funny though, laughing whenever we would get words wrong, before helping Morgan correct us. It was a fun to learn with everyone around. It will take longer to become really fluent but the effort seamed to be paying off as it started to bring Kuzma out of his shell some more.

Pretty soon it was Christmas Eve. I knew that I wouldn't have a lot of time to buy anything but I knew I wanted to get out to at least one store before tomorrow. Mom and Peyton have done a lot of Christmas shopping for Kuzma already. Most of it was new clothes and a few toys, but I wanted to get out and pick up some stuff for him myself and I also wanted to get something for Morgan.

When I brought it up, Dominic volunteered to take me out and we didn't waste much time before we were on the road, on our way to Target. I was kind of excited to get out of the house for a little bit and do some shopping. Target was pretty busy when we got there and Dominic had to park farther away from the door. I was barely out of the car before he basically pushed me down into the wheel chair I still need to use for longer distances.

"Pushing you around is going to be so much fun." He said as we got through the doors.

"Hey, no tricks please. These ribs need to heal, I have a brand new nine year old I want to play with and I can't do that if these ribs aren't back together. Hey we need to go get toys." I said and pointed in the toy direction when Dominic started to push us towards the Christmas stuff.

"I mean I know it's sudden and kind of a bit too late to even ask you this, but did you ever see yourself as a mom?" Dominic asked as he put a basket in my lap before pushing us in the direction of the toys. I sighed and muddled over my answer for a minute.

"To be honest, I didn't know if kids were ever in the cards. I definitely wouldn't have done anything until I officially retired. But now that he is here, I just want to give him everything I can." I said as we turned down one of the toy aisles.

"What are you thinking of getting him?" Dominic asked as he slowly pushed me down the aisle so I can look at both sides.

"When we got into his room, I stepped on a toy car. So maybe some Hot Wheels? I think there were also some Lego's in his room. But I don't really remember much of his room when we were trying to get him out." I said as we left this aisle and turned down the next one. This one happened to have the Lego's and Dominic stopped in front of a bunch of them so I could take my pick.

"What was it like?" Dominic asked as I picked up a Lego Train set and put it in the basket and I motioned with my hand for Dominic to push me forward a little bit. Next I picked up a bucket of regular Lego's and put that in the basket as well.

"It was a long night Dom, I don't want to talk about it now." I said ready to move on to find some Hot Wheels.

Dominic was quiet as we moved into the next aisle. This one was busier then the other and I knew it would be a pain to have Dominic push me through it, so I threw the brakes on the wheel chair. I knew the basket was going to be to heavy for me to lift right now so I had to wait for Dominic to come around to face me. He took the basket from my lap before offering me his arms to help pull myself up. It wasn't too hard getting up so once my feet were under me, I walked down the aisle. I tucked my hands into the ends of my sweatshirt as I stood in front of all the choices of cars. There were so many to pick from but my mind kept going back to when we pulled Kuzma from his room. The crunch I felt under my boot as I stepped onto the car. The instant panic I felt rush through me when I realized this room belonged to a child. Afraid of what we were about to find after the first room we searched.

When I opened my eyes again I lifted my arm up and picked up the blue muscle car off the shelf and held the package in my hand for a moment.

"First time?" I heard someone say to my right. I looked up and saw an older women standing next to me holding a few different packages of Hot Wheels.

"That easy to tell?" I asked before picking up the package of nine cars in different models and colors.

"Yea, you look a bit overwhelmed." The women said.

"That's an understatement." I said looking over both of them.

"The pure joy of watching them open the gift on Christmas morning will make all of this worth it. Don't stress to much about it." The women said and gave me a kind smile while I just felt like crying.

"I just want to make it perfect for him." I said giving her a watery smile.

"We all do, but things aren't always perfect hon. The good always comes with the bad but that's just apart of the job being a mom. You being here right now trying to find the perfect gift will mean everything to him when he sees it under the tree tomorrow morning. And take it from someone who always has a bunch of foster kids running around, you can never have to many Hot Wheels." The women said and chuckled for a moment.

"Thank you, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with them." I said holding tightly onto the variety pack.

"You as well dear." The women said before picking up one more package and handing it to me. I took it from her and put it on top of the others I have before actually looking at it. The model of the Hot Wheel is a black Chevy Chevelle just like dads. When my head snapped up to speak to her again, she was gone. Looking over all of the shelfs, I wasn't able to find another model of this car. That's when I knew it was a sign from Dad. He was here, watching over Kuzma and I from wherever he was.

When I turned around to Dominic and held out the car for him to see he gave me a smile and before putting the rest of the toys into the basket.

"Nice pick." Dominic said.

"I didn't pick it. A women stopped and talked to me for a moment about the toys. She picked it out for me, when I looked to try and find another, there wasn't any more." I said and took a seat in the wheel chair before taking the basket from Dominic so he could push us towards the Christmas stuff.

Dominic didn't say to me in response, just put his hand on my shoulder while we made our way to the Christmas stuff. This area of the store looked like it was ransacked. The only thing I wanted to get was some candy and snacks and a few Santa hats. It hit me then that Kuzma's family might not even be religious or celebrate Christmas. It was something that I'll have to ask him about later.

Dominic and I made our way to check out after that. On the ride up to the counter my eye caught some jewelry that was displayed. A crazy thought ran through my mind as Dominic kept walking to the check out counter. It didn't take long before we had everything bagged up and in the car. On our way back to the house, we stopped at a deli to get some sandwich's for lunch. We made the decision to leave the bags in the car for now until later after Kuzma would be asleep.

The house was pretty busy when we got back home. Christmas music was on and as we came through the door, I saw Morgan and Kuzma dancing around the tree in the living room. My heart melted at the sight as I went over to them. I couldn't help but jump in and spin Morgan around for a moment before I gave her a kiss. When I pulled away I took Kuzma's hand and we danced around together, the three of us. I could hear moms and Dominic in the background and I couldn't help the smile on my face. My whole heart is in this room right now and I wouldn't change anything that happened.

After our little dance party, I walked over to Mom and Peyton who were watching us from kitchen. Both of them have bright smiles on there face. When I got close I asked if they could show me what they got Kuzma already. With him occupied with Morgan for now, this would be a good time to sneak away. We went down to mom's art studio and saw that most of the gifts were already wrapped. I got to see the different clothes they picked out along with some easy reading books and a few toys. When I saw that they got him a set of nerf guns, I vetoed them pretty hard. I didn't know what he has seen while at home but I didn't want to trigger him with these. Maybe when he was a bit older but not now.

They were pretty understanding and are going to return them after Christmas. Once that was out of the way I told them about the few toys I got him. One thing that was for sure, Kuzma is going to be the most spoiled boy on Christmas morning. When we were done talking about Kuzma, I asked mom if I could raid her jewelry collection and borrow something. She gave me a look but didn't question it when she agreed. I thanked her and asked them to keep Morgan and Kuzma busy for a little bit longer.

I slipped down the hall back into our temporary bedroom and went looking through mom's jewelry. It took a little while but I came across a simple silver bracelet that has two hearts on it, connected with a little stone. I don't think I have ever seen mom wear this bracelet before so I'll ask her about it if I have a chance, but this would be perfect. I put the bracelet in my pocket and went to the bathroom to collect myself. Looking at myself in the mirror I couldn't help but smile. I'm going to propose to Morgan.

After another breath, I left the bathroom to find Kuzma pushing me out of the way to get inside. I just laughed and made my way to the living room and took a seat on the couch. Morgan quietly sat down on my left side and I leaned against her. When Kuzma came out of the bathroom he bound over to us and carefully sat in the middle of Morgan and I. Kuzma quickly tucked himself into me the same way he did that night on the hill and I could help but wrap my arms around him tightly.

The rest of Christmas Eve was spent on the couch watching movies but barely half way into the first movie I was asleep. Morgan ended up waking both Kuzma and I up for dinner which was an extra large sampling of Chinese food. I felt like I was in heaven getting to pick through all of the dishes we got. I helped Kuzma try and find his favorite thing. After sampling just about everything, he always went back to the house lo mein which had a bunch of different vegetables along with chicken, pork and shrimp.

After dinner was over, mom and Peyton dragged out the large kitchen aid mixer and got started on making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. We all helped out and it ended up being a fun learning experiment. Morgan kept translating all of the ingredients as we added them into the bowl while I kept sneaking Kuzma chocolate chips on the side. It was going pretty well until he decided to get greedy and stick his hand into the package and try to get away with. Needless to say it didn't work and for his time out, Kuzma had to sit in my lap and watch. When the cookies went into the oven, we moved onto the couch and turned on Elf. It seamed to be his favorite so we all just gathered around on the couch and watched the movie.

When the oven went off, Peyton got up and check on the cookies. They were done so we all gathered around and had one before putting them onto a plate for Santa. Kuzma put the plate down on the coffee table before mom and Morgan brought him upstairs to get ready for bed. Once we heard the door shut, I had Dominic bring in the presents I bought him earlier today so we were could wrap them. It didn't take long and before I knew it, the tree was full of presents. Morgan and I finally retired to our room for the night and we quickly changed into pajama's before crawling into bed. Morgan curled into my side and sleep came easy again for the night.

Christmas morning was peacefully quiet. I don't know if it's because it's early, or everyone is still being quiet around us in the mornings. Whatever it was, I was grateful to have these moments with Morgan. She was just starting to wake up and I could help but smile and move some hair off her face. Her brown eyes fluttered open and before I knew it, I was smiling. Morgan smiled back at me before nudging my shoulder with her chin. I pressed a kiss to her forehead and she closed her eyes again. It was then that I carefully reached over to the nightstand and pick up the bracelet.

When I rolled back over, I ran my hand through Morgan's hair, trying to tame it a little bit and that caused her to open her eyes again. Once I was sure she was awake enough to pay attention to what I was about to say, I got a bit closer to her.

"I know we still have a lot to talk about in regards to everything going on, but there is one thing I know for sure. I love you Morgan May Alexander, with my whole heart. I can't believe I was such an idiot all those years to let you get away from me but now that I have you back, I don't ever want to let you go. I want to be with you forever Morgan, and I know this isn't a ring, and I know we probably can't get actually get married until I retire, but, Morgan will you marry me?" I said and opened my hand to show her the bracelet. I watched as Morgan looked down at the bracelet and then back up at me before she nodded as tears started to leave her eyes.

"I don't care if I have to wait another five years, yes I'll marry you. I want forever with you." Morgan said and I couldn't help but pull her into a steamy kiss. When I pulled away, I put the bracelet on her right wrist before curling back into her.

We didn't get to much more time alone as someone pounded on the door. It didn't take long to hear Kuzma's voice asking for us to get up so he could open his presents. It took us a few minutes to actually get up and out of bed before we were ready to go into the living room. Mom, Peyton, and Dominic were all sitting around on the couch while Kuzma was almost bouncing up and down in excitement. Once Morgan and I sat down on the couch and were handed cups of coffee, Kuzma was released to open the wrapped gifts.

It took him about an hour to go through everything. By the end of it, wrapping paper was everywhere and Kuzma and my brother were on the floor together starting to open up the package of Hot Wheels to play with. With the boys thoroughly distracted, it left the door open for mom to notice Morgan's wrist when she put her coffee cup down on the table. She caught the bracelet on Morgans wrist and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. Mom gave me a look before getting up off the couch. Peyton gave me a look before I just shook my head and followed after her out the back door onto the porch.

The Christmas morning weather had a nice chill in the air, and the sweatshirt I was wearing was just enough to fight off the chill. I crossed my arms and leaned against the porch while watching mom for a moment.

"Your father gave me that bracelet for our one month anniversary. I wore it every day until I went on my first date with Peyton, it felt wrong for me to wear that bracelet, to think of him still, when I was trying to move on from him. Was there a reason why you gave it to her?" Mom asked and turned to face me.

"I proposed to her this morning while we were in bed, she said yes. I didn't have a ring to offer her so that's why I asked about borrowing a piece of jewelry." I said.

Mom had a bright smile on her face as she came over to me and gave me a hug. When she pulled away from me she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked amused.

"P, she owes me a favor." Mom said with a bright smile on her face.

"Did you seriously bet on us again?" I asked.

"Yea, come on, let's go break the news to her." Mom said and pulled me back inside.

When we got there we found that Peyton joined the boys on the floor playing with the cars while Morgan was watching them with a fond look on her face.

"Peyton, you owe me!" Mom said excited as she practically skipped over to the couch.

"What are you talking about?" She asked looking up from were her and Kuzma were racing cars.

"Dani and Morgan are engaged!" Mom said practically vibrated.

There was a good amount of commotion as both Peyton and Dominic both jumped up to congratulate us and to see the bracelet I used in place of a ring. Kuzma was a bit confused about what was going on until Morgan translated it for him. It took a little bit for it to sink in for him but then he just said he thought that we were already married since we share the same bed before he went back to playing with his toys.

After all of that excitement, we moved onto making Christmas breakfast. The kitchen was loud and messy as we all were hungry and wanted food. It was then that Dominic told us that he invited his girlfriend over for dinner later. I was excited to get to meet her in person. When we all had our fill of breakfast we started to clean up the living room. When we could see the floor again I ventured outside again with my cell phone to give Rob a call.

I usually ended up at his house for holidays so this was the first one without seeing him or his kids in a long time and I was really missing it. We spoke for a while and I told him about the proposal. He said he was happy for me and I could even hear it in his voice when he started to tease me in front of his wife. I did ask if he could go over to my house and find my cell phone along with Morgan's and over night them to us as we are going to be staying here for a little while longer recovering. When he told me he could do it tomorrow I thanked him. I really miss having my personal cell phone. Right now I have my secure phone for work but I don't like using it for personal reasons. So for now I'll be phoneless for a little while longer.

After I wrapped up our phone call I went back inside and sat on the floor to help Kuzma build his Lego. We spent a good while just playing together. I only helped him when he asked for it but other then that, I just let him play. I still haven't asked Mom's about how he has been since he got here, but since we've gotten home, I've noticed Kuzma coming out of his shell more and more. I know there are probably going to be underlying issues that are going to come up over time but I know we will be able to get through it together.

Peyton is going to be cooking steaks tonight for dinner with mom making a few different side dishes so I know I wouldn't have to help much. Just as Kuzma was putting the finishing touches on his train, the doorbell went off and it only took two seconds before I heard Dominic all but run full speed at the door. I only smirked as he almost tripped over the rug but caught himself in time not to end up face first on the floor.

The front door swung open and I heard Dominic invite his girlfriend inside. Dina looks very well put together compared to the first time I saw her over facetime. It made me smile because Dominic looked so nervous introducing her to mom and Peyton. But once she handed over the bouquet of flowers to mom and a very nice looking bottle of wine to Peyton, I could see Dominic smile a bit more at her.

Morgan nudged my foot and I looked over at my better half. She ended up sitting with Kuzma and I on the floor not to long ago just to watch.

"She'll fit in just fine." Morgan said and we both watched as she immediately tried to help them in the kitchen but both mom and Peyton told her no and to go join us 'kids' on the floor. I couldn't help but laugh at that and it was worth the pain that rose through my ribs.

Before I could say anything else, Kuzma tugged on my pant leg and I snapped my attention to him. He presented me with his completed Lego train and I couldn't help the bright smile on my face.

"This is so cool buddy, чудова робота." I said and watched as he showed it off to Morgan for a second before he put to down on the floor to play with it. I couldn't help but lean into Morgan and press a kiss to her neck just below her ear.

"He's so smart." I said quietly and watched him move the train around the living room floor around the coffee table and other obstacles.

"We should talk to him about going to school." Morgan said leaning back into me.

"It's Christmas babe, no talk of school until after New Years at least." I said and pressed another kiss to her neck.

I heard someone clear there throat behind me and I knew it was Dominic. I almost forgot about him and his girlfriend for a second. Morgan got up off the floor and I put my hand up for her to give me a hand to get up off the floor. Dominic instead pushed Morgan's one arm out of the way and helped haul me to my feet.

"So I know that you guys technically already met, but Dina, this is my sister Daniella and her girlfriend Morgan." Dominic said.

"It's actually fiancé, but yes, it's really nice to met you in person Dina." I said and held my hand out for her. She took my hand in hers and gave me a smile.

"I'm really happy to finally get to meet you in person too, especially after everything that happened. Also, congratulations! Dominic didn't say anything to me about the engagement." Dina said and let go of my hand.

"Well it only happened this morning, so no need to blame him for that one." Morgan said and pulled Dina in quick side hug.

"Still, congratulation!" Dina said with a bright smile on her face.

"Kuzma, do you want to say hello?" I said and turned to find Kuzma still on the floor with his train. He looked up at the sound of his name and carefully put the train on the table so it wouldn't get ruined before getting up and coming over to me.

"Kuzma this is Dina, she is Dominic's girlfriend." I said and put my arm around his shoulders.

"It's nice to meet you." Kuzma said and gave her a smile but still stayed close to me.

"It's nice to meet you to Kuzma." Dina said and gave him a smile.

Kuzma didn't stick around long, he went back to building his Lego while we all sat down on the couch to get to know each other. It didn't take long before dinner was ready and mom's were calling us to the table to eat. The rest of the night was nice. Dinner was amazing and Kuzma rather enjoyed the mac and cheese mom made, so much so it ended up all over his shirt. By the time dinner was over, we barely had room for anything else but Mom warmed up the left over cookies we had from last night before we all ventured in front of the TV to watch Elf for the millionth time. This Christmas was one of the best I've had in a long time.

a/n: our girls are getting married, well, eventually... maybe... and some more sweet moments with them and Kuzma. love this little man. song on the side is 1121 by Halsey. they really know how to write a tragic love song.