There had been very little time between when Grace had shot Stern and the impending threat of the two US planes bombing them in their harbour, and then suddenly the frantic rush to get everyone back onto the Submarine had become the biggest thought in her mind.
Then the Captain unleashed a nuke and sent it over to DC, and that had become her biggest worry - her father was back home in DC, and Chaplin was about to decimate the city.
But then the bombers had turned away and the nuke had detonated 200 miles off the coast of DC, and the crew was cleared to leave the Sub and return to land, Grace included.
And then it suddenly hit her.
She had killed a man. A man who had spent almost two months in the same submarine as her, and she had shot him.
He had been about to shoot the XO, and her reasoning to shoot was completely justified, but the shock of it all hit her anyway.
The moment played over and over in her head, every second as clear as if it had just happened - the gun in her hand, the squeezing of the trigger with her finger, the beads of sweat forming on her forehead, and the shaky breath she let out as the COB ran over to the downed seaman.
Once they were off the sub, the majority of the crew began to return to the makeshift quarters that had been set up, with some crew headed towards the market, so Grace peeled off from the main group, opting instead to find a quiet secluded spot somewhere near a beach, needing to clear her head.
As she walked, her mind did not become clear, as it so often did, and soon she was hurrying to the side of a path, dropping to her knees as her stomach began rapidly emptying itself of both her breakfast and lunch from the day.
Once her stomach was empty and her body had finished dry retching, Grace stood unsteadily, leaning heavily against a nearby tree, and wiped her mouth before continuing to find a nice beach spot.
It wasn't long until she found one, and she pulled off her heavy boots and peeled off her now sweaty socks, rolling them into a ball and putting them inside a boot before stepping onto the white sand. When she was nearing the water, she dropped her boots to the ground and sat beside them, resting her head between her knees and taking several deep breaths, hoping to calm herself down, and stop the dizziness that was spinning through her at a frighteningly increasing rate.
As she sat, Grace forced her mind away from the issue that was plaguing it, away from what she had just done, and she forced herself to instead remember better things - the day she had graduated from the Academy, the day she had been promoted to Lieutenant, and the look her father had on his face anytime she reported what all her hard work and effort had earned her - a look of utmost pride in his daughter.
Slowly, as her mind drifted away from the plaguing thoughts and she began to relax, her shoulders began to lose their hunch, her stomach became more settled, and the dizziness began fading.
She sat in silence, unmoving for a long time, and only when the sun was beginning to set on the horizon did she look up and allow herself to think again.
But now the shock that had raced through her body at the thought of having killed a man did not bother her so much. The nature of her actions seemed simple and just, and if need be, she would do the same thing over to save the life of her XO and a civilian.
She just hoped that moment never came again.