Every team mission was planned out in advance. Every detail. Plans were put in place for when things didn't go according to plan. Yet somehow even with all that planning things could go horribly wrong. And on this particular mission, things went so wrong, none of them would ever forget it.

Everything had been going so smoothly. Right up until the silence of the early morning was shattered by the echo of gunshots from multiple locations. They had only planned to hear a single gunshot from one. Specifically McG's position as he hit the target.

"Target is down. I repeat, the target is down," McG's voice echoed through their coms.

Jaz barely heard him over the silent screams in her head. Elijah's body had fallen over hers and pinned her to the ground. His blank eyes staring at the sky.

"Jaz, report!" Top's voice demanded.

He sounded worried. She and Elijah were the only ones out of his direct view. She should say something. Tell them that they had just lost a big part of their lives. On the other hand, if she put it off, maybe she would wake up and this would all be a horrible nightmare. But then she felt his warm blood soaking into her clothes, and knew it was certainly a nightmare, but not one she would wake up from anytime soon.

She could tell time was passing. Maybe minutes, maybe more. She heard rustling near her position. She knew she should be concerned. But she couldn't process what was happening enough to consider pulling her weapon up to defend herself. She felt frozen. Lucky for her that it was friend not foe who approached her.

"Top, I found Jaz and Elijah. Elijah is down!"

McG pulled Elijah off and checked him before turning his attention to her. The fact that he moved on so quickly confirmed that Elijah was really gone. There was nothing McG could do to bring him back. Just a few minutes ago he was teasing her and now he was just. . . .

"Stay with them! We're coming to you. Status on Jaz?"

"Concious but non-responsive. Checking for injuries now."

"Watch your six. Preach is looking for the other tangos."

Jaz was so cold. Elijah couldn't be gone. He had pulled off more crazy things during their time as teammates than she had believed possible. They hadn't been doing anything crazy this time. This time they were just clearing buildings, looking for enemy targets, which they had done hundreds of times before. Without ever having an incident. This couldn't be happening.

She realized that McG was removing her vest and he was talking to her. But all she could do was look at Elijah's open eyes which were blank of everything that made him. . . him.

Top crouched directly in her line of vision blocking her view.

"You're going to be okay, Jaz."

She didn't know how he could say so. She was fairly certain she would never be okay again.

A tugging sensation caught her attention and she realized McG was cutting through the sleeve of her shirt. Since she hadn't been responding to him, he was now talking directly to Top.

"I thought the blood was all his at first but she took a bullet to the shoulder. It's a through and through but it bled a lot. I'm going to put a pressure bandage on it and we'll deal with it back at Base."

"She'll be okay?"

"She'll survive this, Top."

His voice indicated that this wound was the lesser of the two. The one to her heart was so much worse.

"Top, the other tangos bugged out. I'm coming to you." Preach's voice updated them.

She felt the echo of pain as the pressure bandage was applied. It was a bare blip on her radar. She tried to focus on Preach as he crouched in front of her but it was a challenge. Felt her position change as he wrapped his arms around her and stood. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist like a child. Over his shoulder she watched as Top crouched down, said something over Elijah's body, and took off his dog tags. He turned around and walked over to her before draping them around her neck.

"Preach, please take her to the truck. McG and I will meet you shortly."

Preach knew they would be covering Elijah's body and didn't want Jaz to have to watch. He didn't think that was a problem. As far as he could tell, she wasn't seeing anything other than the moment when she realized he'd been shot. He walked steadily with her to the truck and put her in the passenger side seat. Grabbing a blanket from his pack, he wrapped it around her before heading to the driver's side himself. It was only a few minutes later when Top and McG appeared within his view. Elijah's wrapped body was over Top's shoulder and Preach felt the truck sway with their movements as they got in the back.

He stepped out of the cab when Top approached the driver's side door.

"How is she, Preach?"

"Quiet."

"Would you mind sitting in the back? Maybe say some words over him?"

"It would be my honor."