Emily cried for a half an hour in her office before she finally got some shut eye on her sofa. She was awakened four hours later, late morning, by Joey as they were both called in to a post-op meeting with various COs and high ranks.
"What is the update?" asked Emily as she straightened herself in front of the mirror.
"Triage has been done. Those who are critical are being transferred to Landstuhl. The others," he paused for a moment, "including Eric took off 3 hours ago. ETA is 7pm."
"What about the rest of Bravo, Romeo and Sierra teams? Some were on the injured list." Among that list had been Trent, Full Metal and Sonny, but she didn't know the extent of the injuries.
"I don't know."
She nodded and they left for the meeting.
The meeting lasted for hours. Every single angle, every single order given had been taken apart, analyzed, and discussed. Emily knew this had nothing to do with her work so to say but the general aspect. This kind of situation should have never happened. Now it was a classic situation of root cause analysis and corrective action.
In the 7-hour long meeting, they'd only had a fifteen-minute break and Emily had taken the opportunity to inform Naima, Stella, and the other Bravo families of their impending return.
Just as she had when the team had returned from Yemen, Emily was on the tarmac. As Goodwin and Lindell had decided to join, Stella, Naima and the others waited on the parking lot. The only woman who had been allowed on the tarmac was Isabelle, Tim's wife. With her, one of the Navy's grief counselors and psychologist.
Emily had already extended her condolences to Isabelle and had tried not to cry as Isabelle had collapsed in her arms.
The trap door opened and lowered. Emily found herself holding her breath as she held on to Isabelle's hand for support.
Romeo team was the first to exit the plane as they carried Tim's temporary casket. Behind them was Sierra team, the Bravo team. There were so many people that Emily could hardly see anyone.
The teams halted and let Romeo team advance towards Lindell, Emily, and Isabelle.
Isabelle, placed a hand on the American flag that had been placed over it. She closed her eyes and cried. Emily placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. After a few moments Isabelle opened her eyes and with the psychologist followed Romeo team towards the vehicle that was going to take them away.
Sierra and Bravo started walking again and as Sierra team dissipated, Emily was finally able to have a good look at Bravo team. Trent was walking with crutches and had a cast. Jason had a few abrasions. Full-Metal had a bandage around the head, most probably from a head laceration.
She tried to keep an impassive face, but she was sure that if anyone was looking at her, they would have seen an ounce of emotion surface as Sonny came into her sight. He had a stitched-up eyebrow arch, multiple abrasions in the face, and neck, and his left forearm was patched up over a three-inch section.
His eyes found hers and locked in on them. 'I'm OK' he mouthed to her, seeing the way she was looking at him with such concern.
One by one, Bravo team stopped and hugged her.
Sonny hugged her without it being too 'close for comfort' and as Eric had been stopped by Lindell, along with Mark and Rick, and the other Bravo members had headed to their families in the parking lot, he took that moment to his advantage.
She looked at him.
"I'm OK. It takes more than a few terrorists to keep this cowboy down."
He looked back at Eric and the others.
"Ain't no one raining in on my parade today, so before your brother comes, I'm going to head on home and count the minutes till I can hold you properly in my arms."
"Copy that."
He nodded and walked away as Emily waited for Eric and Richard, Mark had already headed off with Romeo team.
Lindell walked over with them. "Captain, I still need an hour of your time, when you are through here. Meet me in my office."
"Yes, Sir."
Lindell nodded and proceeded toward the jeep that brought him back towards HQ.
Eric took Emily in his arms. He too had multiple abrasions and a stitched-up forehead.
"You did good Em."
"This should never have happened," she answered back.
"No, you're right," replied Richard, "but it did, and it could have been a lot worse. Don't ever forget that."
Eric nodded in agreement.
"Today, you were the one who made a difference on that list of casualties. Even if there are losses, a lot of us get to come home to our families, thanks to you," said Rick as he hugged her before leaving. Eric headed home while Emily headed to HQ.
