March 10th 2018

Soap and Price walked the streets of Ukraine alongside Axe and Bolt with guns in hand and wrapped in layers and layers of clothes to fight off the Ukrainian cold. "Can't wait to go home to mom and her cooking." Axe said to his brother. "Her roast chicken and potatoes."

"Dude shut up." Bolt replied. "You're making me hungry just thinking about it."

Soap smiled, thinking of his own mother's cooking back home in Scotland. He couldn't wait to go home and see the look on his mother's face when he told her he was coming home for good. It gave him a warm feeling just thinking about it. He couldn't wait to see his niece when he told her that she'd never have to say goodbye to her uncle again and how Jeremy wouldn't have to worry about his baby brother anymore.

The men walked for hours that day, clearing houses and making sure the town they were in was clear of radicals looking to blow anything up. The day went by uneventfully, the team sweeping a few houses and speaking with some of the locals. The sun was beginning to set when the team entered their final house to sweep. The team had only opened the front door and took a few steps inside when the explosion went off and black consumed them.

OOOOO

March 17th 2018

Aaron sat on the hardwood floor of the vacant store she bought and was on the way to becoming an art store, studio, and classroom. It didn't take her long to figure out what she wanted to do for a living after leaving the S.A.S. Art had been a passion of hers her whole life and Holly and Jamie found a way to make it her life. Aaron bought what used to be a cafe for a low price and turned it into an artist's dream. On one wall there were sketch books, canvas boards, notebooks, and all sorts of different things to create on art while the other there were shelves lined with paints, pencils, charcoals, paint brushes and anything else any aspiring artist would need to produce a masterpiece. There was a small kitchen space in the back where an assortment of baked goods would be baked daily as well as fresh brewed coffee would be made. Tables were in the front room where people could sit, eat, sip coffee, and work at while in the back room was a space where Aaron would teach art classes four days a week to kids. It would be another two weeks until all the paperwork was done so it was going to be one more week before the grand opening.

As Aaron sat on the floor, she felt so content and happy with her life. She had a job, a family, hell she even made a few friends in the neighborhood. But despite all the great things going on in her life at this moment, she couldn't help but feel sad at the same time. When she imagined finally settling down into a regular life, she imagined it with Soap.

As soon as he entered her thoughts, Aaron quickly moved away from the subject. She couldn't fall into a pit of sadness because some guy broke her heart. But the problem was that he wasn't some guy. It was Soap. The guy who saved her from Russia, then herself, and at one time he was a good friend before he pulled her behind a building and kissed her.

Shaking her head Aaron stood up and left the store, making sure she locked it before walking back towards her apartment building. Harley was waiting for her by the door and greeted her when she entered by rubbing at her ankles. "Hey sweetie." she said to the cat, picking him up and picking his head. "Hungry?"

Setting him down by his dish, Aaron poured him a bowl of dry food and then gave him fresh water before flipping through the mail. "Water bill, electric bill, junk mail…" she said aloud as she tossed down the envelopes. She stopped when she saw something from Hereford. Now that all the paperwork was finished of her resignation, there was no reason for anyone at Hereford to send her a letter. Jamie and Ben were the only two people there she talked to and they called her every other day. She tossed the envelope to the side, not bothering to open it.

Heading upstairs to her room, she went to change out of her day clothes and into her pajamas for the night. Opening the drawers she pulled out her pants and shirt, a few articles falling out as nothing was folded neatly but instead thrown together in a mess. Sighing, she bent down and picked up the shorts and shirts that hit the hardwood. Before she stood up, something caught her eye that was between her bed and bedside table. Once she shoved the clothes into the drawer, she walked over carefully. She knew what it was when she was only a few inches from it. With her breath held, she leaned down and picked up the familiar small black journal. She sat down on her bed as she looked at it, debating whether or not to open it.

"If found, return to 22nd SAS regiment, Credenhill U.K." Aaron read on one of the first pages when Harley jumped up next to her. "Now why would you leave this here?" she asked, as if Soap was listening and would give her an answer. Knowing she wouldn't get one she flipped through the pages, reading the earliest entries from his first day on Price's team years ago when he was an FNG. She couldn't help but smile a little reading the trial times and his dread at someone bringing up his nickname. A laugh escaped her lips when she read him referring to Price's mustache as a dick tickler.

She ended up reading the journal that evening, from the first entry. She laughed at his strong hatred for canines and teared up at the mentions of his dead comrades, her heart going out to him. She knew how much it hurt to lose fellow soldiers from experience and how it could make you feel so guilty. You think to yourself, "Could I have done more?"

There were some pages stained with blood that made Aaron's breathing stop despite knowing there would be more words on the next page. When she got to the time where he fell out of the clock tower in Prague, the city where she saved his life so long ago, the mentions of her start.

A little brunette thing nearly died today, saving my life, he wrote, making Aaron roll her eyes. And I couldn't be more grateful for that sacrifice. Her name was Aaron. We spoke for a whole two minutes before she left on a plane back to her team, but Price spoke highly of her. Some sort of computer whiz. If not for her, I'd be dead today. Maybe one day I can pay back the favor.

Aaron kept reading, eventually landing on the pages he wrote after he found out about her being take being prisoner.

The worst things happen to the best people. A soldier goes out of her way to save a life she doesn't know and then she's taken prisoner before the war ends. Even though it means missing a leave with my family, I'm going after her. It's time to repay that debt.

Reading his journal entries made Aaron realize just how set Soap was on finding her. It made a warmth spread her as she remembered back then they were pretty much strangers minus their one encounter. He went out of his way to save a stranger in hope to repay a debt that didn't exist. There was no debt he owed her. What she did that day for him any soldier would have done if they could.

She read every detail, smiling along the way until the last entry.

I love her, but now lies the question of where can I find the most perfect ring?

Reading that led to the journal being thrown onto the floor. If he loved her so much and wanted to make her his wife then why did he leave her crying in a room the day of her brother's wedding. He didn't deserve her, not after that. Although she knew there was that part of her who was crazy in love with the Scot, she could never look at him the same way. She knew he could be harsh and cruel in his line of work, but never with her. He was always gentle and loving, even when they fought. Even when he was at his angriest with her, there was a soft spot in him for his British beauty. But to Aaron, none of that mattered anymore. She wanted to forget him and move on with her life. And the perfect start to that was getting rid of his stupid journal that still held a presence in her home. She was smart enough to know she couldn't just throw it away, the journal was still his and held very confidential information. It also held Soap's story from the days of an FNG until the thoughts on proposing to Aaron. So she decided she would make one last trip to Hereford. Although it said return to Credenhill, Aaron trusted that the journal was safest with MacMillan until it was returned to Soap.

March 20th 2018

It only took one phone call for Aaron to get permission to the Hereford base. Despite still being a civilian, MacMillan allowed it for more than one reason. She drove u pearly in the morning and after going through standard security, she was greeted by her old commander with open arms. "Hey Mac." she said with a smile as she returned the hug. The age lines in his face were a bit more prominent, but everything else about him remained the same. His hair, the warm look in his eyes, the smile he only wore around friends.

"How've you been my dear?" he asked as they parted. "You look lovely. Civilian life looks good on you."

Aaron couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks. Definitely lower in stress."

The two went to Mac's office where after catching up for a few minutes, Aaron laid Soap's journal on the desk between them. "Soap left this at my home. I thought he should have it back." she explained. "We're no longer together and I know this journal is important to him."

Mac looked at the journal and then at Aaron. "That's the military business you were referring to?" he asked, confusion lacing his tone.

"I know it isn't major or anything, I just didn't know else how to explain it. But yeah, why?"

MacMillan leaned his forearms on his desk and spoke in a quieter tone. "Didn't you receive a letter from me several days ago?"

Aaron nodded, remembering the letter that still remained unopened on her counter. "I haven't read it yet, I just have been so swept up in opening the store I hadn't even opened it yet." she explained, only half lying. Part of her just didn't want to open and deal with whatever was inside.

"Aaron…" MacMillan said sadly. "It was about Soap, Price, and the rest of the one four one."

Everything in the world suddenly began to collapse as Aaron realized what he could be saying. Now everything was screaming inside her that he didn't say the words she never in her life wanted to hear. That Price and Soap, two men in her life that meant the world to her in different ways at one point, were KIA.

"They've been MIA for ten days." MacMillan told her carefully. "No contact, no noise, nothing. They were last seen in the Ukraine, but we haven't been able to locate them since."

There was a long silence as Aaron processed the information. All she came to do was return the journal and forget about Soap to continue moving forward in her life. But now she knew he was missing somewhere in the world where no one knew that somewhere was. And she and MacMillan both knew that there were a limited amount of people in the world who could find Soap and Price, but only one who could do it quickly and efficiently. Every time she tried starting over, something caused her to get re-involved in the life of a soldier. Now the question remained, should she try to help those who once helped her or finally take the road she's been trying to take and remain in her normal life?