Author's note: Since it's the Winter Olympics, the idea of this popped into my head and I decided to make a quick one shot. This is NOT a part of my main story What Will It Take which I am still working on. Enjoy.

Gold Medal

The entire barracks lounge erupted with shouts and cheers as the operators watched the TV on the wall. Currently, no operations were going on, which was greatly appreciated as everyone was watching the Winter Olympics. Every operator was cheering and rooting for their home countries.

The Americans were being particularly rowdy. The snowboarding event had just ended, and a seventeen-year-old athlete had just earned the United States first gold medal.

"Whoo! Gold medal baby!" Eliza shouted as she high-fived Jordan next to her.

"That's cute, we've already got three." Dominic pointed out, just to get a rise from the red head, and it worked.

"Yeah, well Germany can suck it!" She yelled.

"Ahem." Monika piped up. She sat next to Eliza with her arms crossed, giving her a stern look.

Eliza's cheeks immediately turned red. "Except you babe, you know I love you." She tried to give the girl a kiss, but the German instead pulled her by the pony tail. "Ow!"

Not all the operators were being loud. Ela sat in one of the back corners enjoying the show, both on screen and the one in front of her. She wasn't all that interested in the Olympics, although she was still secretly rooting for her home country, which had yet to win any medals at all. She watched the American operators in front of her and noticed a particular blond Navy SEAL was missing. She had a feeling as to where she was and went upstairs. She made it up to room 203 and without knocking opened the door. Sure enough, her girlfriend was inside lying face down on her bed.

"Meghan." Ela called.

"What?" The blond answered, not looking at her.

"Are you seriously going to stay up here the whole time? You know the games are going for the next two weeks?"

"If that's what it takes to avoid watching the stupid games, then yes."

Ela laughed, this was extremely out of character for the blond, acting so immature, childish even. "Well, you're going to have to eat eventually, and don't think for a second that I'm bringing you anything."

"That's fine."

Ela sighed. She walked over to the bed and laid down, laying her head on Meghan's back. She did so because she knew the blond hated when she did that.

"Hey! I'm not a pillow!"

"Then get up and look at me damnit."

Meghan sat up and looked at her girlfriend. "Fine."

"Look," Ela began, "I know it makes you uncomfortable to watch, but you can't just hide from your problems, you're the one that taught me that in the first place. Besides, you don't have to actually watch the games, at least just come out and socialize."

"I know, I know," Meghan responded, "it's just hard. That was my dream, to represent my country in the Olympics and bring home a gold medal. I trained so hard ever since I was a kid, practicing and getting better day in and day out. It even looked like my dream was finally going to come true. I was being looked at to officially join the U.S. team. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was all taken away. That stupid car accident, just a momentary lapse in judgment, cost me everything." Tears began falling from her eyes. "How am I supposed to sit there and watch the whole world celebrate what should have been my dream?" Meghan was trying desperately not to cry, to no avail. She felt Ela wrap her arms around her waist.

"You want to know what I think?" Ela asked.

"What?"

"I'm happy you broke your arm."

"What?! How could you say that?!" Meghan asked, feeling hurt by the statement.

"Since you didn't make it to the Olympics, look at what else you've accomplished. You were one of the first women to become a Navy SEAL. You didn't get to represent your country, but instead served your country in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now as a Rainbow operator." Ela pointed all these things out and it seemed to help. "And also, if you had become an Olympic athlete, we wouldn't be together."

That last statement really hit Meghan hard. It was true, the only reason the two women even knew each other was through their military service, now they were happily dating. She realized that she hadn't been looking at the bigger picture, she was proud of her service to her country, and she was head over heels in love with Ela. She looked at the green haired girl and wrapped her arms around her, as if it was still possible to lose her. "Thank you."

"I actually have something for you." Ela said as she reached into her pocket.

Meghan watched her curiously, wondering what Ela could have possibly gotten her. Eventually, Ela pulled out her present.

"Here." She handed her the gift.

Meghan examined it closely. It was a tiny gold medal with a blue ribbon, but instead of the Olympics symbol, it had her own Valkyrie symbol etched into one side, and on the other was Ela's symbol. It was well crafted and looked like it was made of real gold.

"You can wear it as a necklace or put it on your weapon." Ela said.

"How did you get this?" Meghan asked.

"Don't worry about it. So, do you like it?"

"It's beautiful. I love it, thank you." Meghan hugged Ela tightly once more.

"I know its not the real thing, but I hope it's still good."

"It's even better." Meghan gave her girlfriend a kiss, which Ela returned eagerly.

"I love you Ela."

"I love you too."

The two stayed wrapped in each other's arms for a while neither saying anything. Meghan was never more thankful to have Ela in her life. Every two years since the accident, she would get stuck in this rut of feeling sorry for herself, and in just a few minutes, Ela was able to single handedly break her out of that cycle. She truly had a remarkable girlfriend, and to think, fulfilling her dream would have actually denied her of such a person. Now that was worth way more than a gold medal.

Eventually, Ela spoke up. "We should get back downstairs, everyone is having fun, and I think they'd like it if we joined them." She got up and headed for the door.

"Actually…"

Ela turned around and gave her girlfriend a serious look. "Don't tell me after all this, you still refuse to go down there."

"No, it's not that." Meghan answered. "I just thought that maybe…we could do something else."

Ela quickly got the hint and her cheeks turned red. "I guess they wont notice if we're gone for a little while longer."

Ela walked back over to her girlfriend and they shared a passionate kiss. They wrapped their arms around one another and fell back onto the bed.

This was definitely worth more than a gold medal.

Author's note: GO USA! As always feel free to leave a review. Until next time.