Author's note: I'm sorry this one took so long. I hope it was worth the wait. Enjoy.

What Will It Take?

Chapter 23

Ela was walking through the halls of Hereford hospital on her way to see her favorite person. Lena and Amelie said they would be visiting later, which gave Ela an opportunity to be alone with Meghan. The three of them had been keeping Meghan company nonstop for the past few days and she was getting a little worn out. She enjoyed the young couples company no doubt, but the energy contained in such a small British girl was overwhelming, it was a wonder how Meghan and Amelie handled it so well. She also wanted some cherished alone time with her girlfriend and to make sure that a certain nurse wasn't getting too 'close' with said girlfriend.

She entered the hospital room and saw her beloved in her bed as expected. She also immediately noticed another woman with pale white hair talking with her. However, this wasn't the same white haired nurse that Ela had been weary of for the past few days. This woman was older and looked different, in fact she looked oddly like…Meghan?

It didn't take much more for Ela to realize that this was Meghan's mother, she had somehow managed to fly all the way out here to see her daughter. Which made sense, she knew Meghan was close with her mother, especially after her father died, and wasn't surprised that the woman had made the journey to see for herself that her daughter was alright. The two were so wrapped up in their conversation that they had yet to notice her, "Ahem." She said, finally gaining their attention.

"Ela!" Meghan greeted.

"Hey." She greeted back, "I came to see how you're doing."

"As always. Come here, there's someone I want you to meet." She gestured to the newcomer, "Ela, this is my mother, Maria."

Ela looked at the older Castellano and took in her features, she looked like she was in her mid-fifties. Ela also noticed that she looked almost exactly like an older version of Meghan. The only major differences was that Maria had white hair, a few wrinkles on her face, brown eyes and was noticeably skinnier than her daughter.

Maria greeted Ela with a smile, "Nice to meet you Ela."

"Nice to meet you as well Mrs. Castellano." Ela was nervous, but trying not to show it. Meeting the parent of her girlfriend was not on the list of things she expected to do today. She knew she had to make a good first impression. "Does she even know we're dating?" She thought to herself.

"Please, call me Maria." The mother said, "You are a friend of Meghan's I assume?"

"I guess you could say that." Ela answered.

"Ela is more than that, mom. She's actually someone very special." Meghan added.

"Really, How so?"

"Here we go." Ela thought to herself.

"Ela is also on the team. Just like everyone else, she's pretty bad ass. And she's the one I told you about, the one that saved me." Meghan answered, "She's the reason I'm still here."

"You mean..?"

"Yes. She patched me up and kept me breathing immediately after I got hit. Even Doc himself said that I'm still alive because of what she did."

Not quite where Ela thought the conversation was going, but Maria had the warmest smile on her face regardless, Ela also noticed tears beginning to form in the eyes of the older Castellano. Maybe Meghan was playing her up before the big reveal.

Maria moved closer to Ela and wrapped her arms around her, "Thank you so much." She knew that words alone could never express how thankful she was for what Ela did for Meghan, "Thank you for keeping my daughter here with me."

Ela could feel the thankful tears being shed by Maria fall on her shoulder as she returned the embrace, "You don't have to thank me." She reassured, "I doubt she told you that she saved me as well."

Maria shook her head. "Did she now?"

"She pushed me out of the way to safety, leaving herself in the blast. Otherwise we would both be in this hospital, or worse."

"That sounds like something she would do." Maria commented as she looked at her daughter.

"Ela would have done the same for me." Meghan said.

"You two seem close. How long have you two been on a team together?"

"Well actually, the first time we met was ten years ago, during my first tour in Iraq."

"That long ago?"

"Yeah, she and I took the lead on one of the bigger operations of that deployment." Meghan explained, thankfully leaving out the part where the two of them hated each other at the time, "Then we fought together in Afghanistan two years later. And now, here we are, in England. When I was told that we were getting a new team member from Poland, I never thought that in a million years that it would be her, but it's like destiny had other plans."

"Indeed." Maria responded, "Different plans that I am thankful for."

Ela was now getting confused, that would have been a perfect moment to tell her mother about them.

"Well, I'm happy you have such a great friend to look after you."

"Yeah…she's a…good friend."

"Friend?"

Then it finally dawned on Ela. Meghan wasn't going to tell her mother about them. She recalled when the blonde told her only a few people knew about her sexuality. She guessed her mother wasn't one of them, and it appeared that she was going to keep it that way. Was Meghan afraid of what her mother would say? Or was she ashamed of her?

"Well Ela," Maria said, breaking her train of thought, "I'm so happy that Meghan has a friend like you to look after her like that." She gave the Polish girl another thankful hug.

"Of course." Ela said. After a moment, the two let go of each other. Ela was happy that Maria seemed to think well of her, but Meghan's apprehensiveness still hurt, "Um, I have to go, I'll give you two some more time to catch up."

"Wait, is everything alright?" Meghan asked. "Ela?"

Ela didn't respond as she left the room in a hurry, not wanting them to see the tears that had begun to roll down her face.

"Hold the camera steady!"

"Go easy on me man, I'm still jet lagged."

McConnell was now back at the theme park taking lead on the investigation. He wasn't expecting to be back in China anytime soon, but as soon as Isaac got the information Taina had extracted from the prisoner, he had him flown back as soon as he could. Meanwhile, Isaac, Taina and Kowalski were watching a live feed from McConnell's body camera. Isaac wanted to go himself, but Six said she needed him back at the home front.

"That's the one right?" Isaac asked.

"In the middle of the room." Taina observed through the feed, "That's the one."

Currently, McConnell was in the gargoyle room, examining one of the statues. He had a couple of new recruits helping him. The statue was of a gargoyle, similar to the many others in the park, perched upon what seemed to be a miniature building.

"Do you see anything off?" Isaac asked.

"Other than the fact that its an ugly piece of shit, not really." McConnell answered.

"How did this thing possibly help him escape?" Isaac asked, turning to Taina.

"It's what he told me." She answered.

"How do you know he wasn't lying to you?"

"Oh trust me captain, he wasn't." She smiled, "They always get so talkative before they bleed out."

Isaac turned back to the feed from McConnell, "Keep looking."

"I am, but I'm telling you dude, nothings here." He said as he looked at the statue, even giving it a light kick for good measure.

"There's got to be something." Kowalski said. The three of them looked intensely at the screen.

"Wait!" Taina said, "Look up."

McConnell moved the camera to get a better view of the statue.

"See that symbol?"

Everyone looked closely at the statue. They all saw what looked like a symbol of a flower on top of the building. Such a symbol didn't quite match the theme to the rest of the room.

"That looks a bit off." Isaac said, "McConnell, take a closer look."

McConnell moved closer to the symbol, running his fingers along the lines. Immediately, he felt something move, "Hold on, I got something."

"Be careful." Isaac warned.

McConnell moved toward the middle of the flower where there was a small circle. It quickly became apparent that it wasn't just a symbol, it was a button. He knew it could be a trap, one left behind by the White Masks as another attempt to kill as many as they could, "Back off." He said to the new recruits, not willing to risk their lives for this potential breakthrough. Once he judged that they were at a safe distance, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pushed the button. There was a loud thud, but no explosion.

"Everything okay." Isaac asked, who had also been holding his breath.

"I think so." McConnell answered. He began examining the statue once again, trying to find the source of the thud. He couldn't really see any changes, until he leaned against it. The whole thing shifted slightly, startling him, "Help me with this!" He called the recruits back.

"What did you find?!" Isaac asked.

""I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out." He answered. The three of them were now positioned on one side of the statue, "Okay, everyone push together on three. One, two, three." The three of them pushed with all there might. Soon they were rewarded for their efforts, the entire statue had shifted from its original spot. In its place, was a very large hole that went deep underground. "Isaac, are you seeing this?"

Back at Hereford, Isaac, Kowalski and Taina were watching the new discovery on the screen, unsure what to make of it.

"Kowalski, analysis."

"Okay, give it one more try."

"Alright, here goes nothing." Meghan slowly lifted her injured leg and began moving it. Left to right, up and down, even bending her knee, all without Ashe's assistance. The movement may seem easy to most, but weeks of little to no functionality meant this exercise was still shaky and caused Meghan to work up a sweat, she still finished it regardless, "How was that?"

"Excellent!" Ashe jumped for joy, "Your progress has been amazing! I've never seen anyone recover from injuries like yours in such a short amount of time."

Only then did Meghan realize that Ashe was most likely never informed about the nano bot treatment that was done to her as it was still classified, "I'm sure I have you and your colleagues to thank in part for that."

Ashe had just finished writing down her observation on her clipboard, "I'm going to let Dr. Kateb know what just happened, he's going to be thrilled."

She quickly exited the room, passing Eliza as she was entering. The redhead didn't even acknowledge the nurse as she left. She walked up to Meghan and did not have a happy look on her face, "A friend?!"

"What?" Meghan asked, confused.

"Did you seriously call Ela 'a good friend' in front of your mom?!"

Meghan hesitated, recalling the conversation, "I might have."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just found Ela crying in her room!" Eliza shouted, "Why didn't you tell her that you two are dating?"

Meghan was shocked about Ela, she thought her girlfriends sudden departure the day before was odd, but didn't think she had upset the Polish girl. She instantly felt horrible, "She was crying?"

"Of course she was!" Eliza was only getting more agitated, "You had the perfect opportunity to introduce your amazing girlfriend to your family, and instead you played her off as just another random person that you know. How else is that supposed to make her feel?"

"You don't understand, Eliza." Meghan argued, "It's not that simple."

"What do you mean, just say 'hey mom, I'm dating this chick who also happened to save my life'. Why is that so hard?"

"My mom doesn't know that I'm bisexual."

"Oh come on. You're a grown up, just tell her."

"It's not that easy!" Meghan countered, "I have no idea how she will feel about it."

"You're her daughter, you're a God damned Navy SEAL and you're in the hospital. Do you think she will honestly care about who you're sleeping with?" Eliza pointed out, "Not to mention, Ela's the reason you're still alive."

"But I've been hiding this from her since I was fifteen, lying to her for over half of my life. I don't about your family, but-"

"My family hasn't spoken to me since I came out!" Eliza interrupted.

The revelation instantly silenced Meghan's arguing. She could only look at her friend in confusion and disbelief.

"Yeah, they hate the fact that I'm gay, despite what else I've accomplished, they're still ashamed of me." Eliza continued, "I've tried several times to make them come to terms with it. I've even tried to introduce them to Monika and show them how amazing she is and that it's not a bad thing, but they won't have it. And you know what, that's fine with me." Eliza was confident in her words, but tears were still beginning to well in her eyes and her voice was cracking, "If they can't love me for who I am then I don't care if they're a part of my life or not. Because I know that Monika loves me, so does her family, and so do all of you in Rainbow, and I love all of you back. That's what matters to me."

Meghan didn't know what to say, she simply grabbed Eliza by the hand and gave it a squeeze, silently reassuring the redhead that the love of her best friend was reciprocated. For a minute, the two didn't speak.

"Does Ela matter to you?" Eliza finally asked.

"Of course she does." The blonde answered.

"Well, you're doing a shitty job of showing it."

"I know…but I'm just so conflicted."

"I get it, you're afraid of what might happen." Eliza said, "The fact is, you have to tell her, otherwise you're lying to both of them. Who knows, she might be fine with it and you're worrying over nothing. If she doesn't approve, she's either going to have to learn to deal with it, or you're going to have to chose which one is worth keeping in your life."

Meghan wasn't totally happy with that answer, but took her friends words to heart, "I have to make it up to Ela first."

"I told her I would yell at you for her, then I would send her your way."

"Does she hate me…again?"

"Well, she's not happy with you, but you still mean the world to her. She's loyal as hell, which is why I think she's good for you." Eliza answered, "I'll tell her to come see you when I go back."

"I would appreciate that."

"And no excuses, you better apologize to her. You're the only person who means anything to her right now and you just fucked it up." Eliza got up to leave.

"Thanks, Eliza." As always, Meghan was appreciative of having Eliza as a friend. The redhead would always support her and have her back, but she was also never afraid to give her a verbal kick in the ass, which is exactly what she needed just now. And the revelation about her family only brought the two closer than they already were.

The redhead simply gave her a smile before leaving the room.

"So what is it." Isaac asked.

"It appears to be a tunnel." Kowalski answered.

"I can see that, smartass! What have we found out about it?"

"Well, why don't we ask the guys who are in there?"

"McConnell, report." Isaac asked into the microphone.

"Say again." The response was quiet and full of static.

"What have you found?"

"What?" Again, the response was hard to understand.

"Why can't he hear me?" Isaac asked in frustration.

"They're underground dude, it's a miracle that they can hear us at all." Kowalski answered, he then started adjusting the knobs on the radio. "I just boosted the signal, try again."

"McConnell, can you hear me?"

"There we go, yeah I hear you."

"Do you have anything?"

"Given how filthy this place is, yeah I probably have several diseases by now." He answered back. He along with his two assistants were inside the escape tunnel they had discovered. Upon finding the underground passage, the three of them had decided to investigate to see exactly how far it went and where. They had been treading through the place for almost an hour.

"I meant about the tunnel." Isaac pinched the bridge of his nose, "I don't know how I put up with all of you."

"Well, it feels like we've been walking forever."

"About five miles sir." One of the assistants clarified.

"Right. So, what I have so far, it's well lit, well supported to prevent cave-ins, even well ventilated. Large enough for several people to walk through at the same time and is located about twenty feet below the surface. So this was definitely meant to be an escape tunnel, or at the very least a quick and inconspicuous way of getting from one point to another."

"Sounds a lot like that bank robbery last year." Kowalski said, "The tunnel they dug to break in was well built and went undetected until the attack, this ones just a lot longer."

"Right. Something interesting to note is that this tunnel is well constructed and maintained, meanwhile the actual base they were living in and operated out of was kept as, for lack of a better term, a piece of crap."

Isaac processed the information and came to one conclusion, "They knew we would come for them. They knew this tunnel would be a necessity, not a fail-safe."

Before McConnell could respond, the trio rounded a corner and were met with a ladder, "Hold up, we've got something else."

"What is it?"

The three men looked up the ladder to see what was up there, it went up about twenty feet and lead to what looked like a trap door of some sort. Since the tunnel didn't dip or rise at any point during their trip, all of them knew this meant it would lead directly to the surface.

"Wallcroft, Griffen, cover me." McConnell ordered the two new recruits.

All of them pulled out their MP5-Ks, they may have won the battle and the enemy may have fled, but they weren't foolish enough to enter this tunnel unarmed. Whoever used this tunnel to escape could very well still be there, possibly even waiting for them with an ambush, it could have led to another secret enemy base for all they knew. McConnell began climbing up the ladder while his two colleagues covered him. Once he reached the top, he carefully turned the doors handle. Then with one hand on the knob and the other clutching his weapon, he quickly flung the door open and rushed up, ready to combat whatever awaited him.

Nothing. No enemy, no ambush, no secret base. It was just a regular alleyway between two buildings. It was slightly disappointing although it was nice to finally breath some fresh air again. After a few seconds, the other two men joined him on the surface. At the end of the alley, they could see people and cars going about their day, they quickly holstered their weapons to avoid any unwanted attention.

"What did you find?" Isaac's voice came over the radio.

"The end." He simply answered, slightly confused. "Griffen, where the hell are we?"

Griffen pulled out his GPS. "Victoria Harbor sir."

"We made it all the way to the harbor." McConnell said to himself, "And its been weeks since the raid, which means-"

"Which means that they could be anywhere in the fucking world by now." Isaac interrupted. He sat down and sighed in defeat, "Back to square one."

Ela was once again making her way through the hospital, albeit with even less enthusiasm. After her initial meeting with Maria she had immediately gone back to her room and cried. Why didn't Meghan want to tell her mother about them? Was she embarrassed? Was she ashamed? Did She not want to be with her anymore? Maybe she felt like it was none of her mother's business. Regardless, Ela had been hurt by the notion that Meghan didn't feel like she was worthy of telling her only living parent.

She didn't remember how long she was laying on her bed, but eventually, as if the stars had aligned, Eliza found her. It took some prodding, but Ela finally confided to the redhead about what Meghan had said. Eliza immediately flared up in anger. She told Ela to stay put while she went to 'talk some sense into the dumb blonde'. About an hour later, she gave her the green light to go and see her again, she had explained to Ela how Meghan felt about the whole ordeal and although Ela seemed to understand, Eliza said it was no excuse. As annoying and chaotic as the redhead could be, she was proving herself to be a good friend and Ela could see why Meghan and Monika kept her around.

She finally made her way to Meghan's room, the SEAL was sitting alone looking at an old photograph.

"Meghan?" Ela called as she walked closer to her.

"Do you remember this?" Meghan asked as she showed the photo to Ela. It was a photo of the group that had participated in Orange Sky, with the two of them right in front, Ela choosing not to smile as always. She remembered the picture was taken in celebration of the operations success.

"Our first job together."

"Remember back then, how we would always be at each other's throats.?"

Ela recalled the multiple times they had butted heads during that mission. Neither of them could make a call without being challenged by the other, "Yeah, I remember."

"But in the end, we still made a hell of a team."

"I guess we did." Ela agreed.

"And still do." She felt Meghan grab her by the hand, "Ela, I'm so sorry." The blonde looked like she was about to cry.

"You don't-"

"Yes I do." She pulled the Polish girl in and hugged her as tight as she could, "I should never have said you were just a friend, especially to my own mother. You're so much more than that."

Ela hugged her back just as tightly, she could feel tears welling in her eyes again, "I just want to know if I'm good enough for you."

"You are." Meghan pulled back to look her in the eye, "You are, and I'm sorry for making you doubt that even for a second. You saved my life for God's sake, and I can't even give you the goddammed curtesy of calling you my girlfriend in front of my mom. I'm so pathetic."

Ela wiped away both of they're tears, "We both knew going into this that being together was not going to be easy."

Meghan nodded in agreement.

"But I'm still willing to try if you are."

"Of course I am." Meghan said, "And I'm going to make this right."

"What do you mean?"

"My mom is visiting again today, and I'm going to tell her everything."

Ela was surprised, "Meghan, you don't have to do this. Eliza told me what you said, I understand this isn't easy for you."

"This might not be easy for me, but nothing in our relationship has been easy for you, I can at least give you this."

"Are you sure?"

Instead of answering the question, Meghan closed the gap between them and gave her the most passionate kiss she had ever given anyone, "Enough worrying about me."

An hour later, Ela was still with her, the two of them waiting for Maria to return. They had decided to keep a little distance between them to avoid any suspicion. Meghan concluded that the confession would be a lot smoother and less awkward if her mother didn't walk in on them hugging, or worse.

"What do you think she'll say?" Ela asked, trying to pass the time.

"I honestly have no idea." Meghan answered. She was always adept at reading people and situations, but her mothers stance on LGBT matters never came up during her childhood. She was nervous, and it showed.

"I don't think you have anything to be worried about." Ela reassured.

"I guess we'll see."

As if on cue, Maria walked into the room, "Hey, everything alright? You sounded anxious when you called me."

Meghan's voice had completely disappeared. She kept opening her mouth to speak, but no words would form. After a few seconds, Ela decided to speak for her, "Um, Meghan wanted to tell you something before you left yesterday."

"What is it Meghan?"

"Um, well." Meghan's brain was finally capable of forming words, just not the ones she wanted, "Mom, I was going to tell you this earlier, but…" She trailed off.

"But what?"

"I just…I don't…I don't know how to say it."

Maria grabbed her by the hand, "Sweetie, you can tell me anything."

"I…" Meghan couldn't take it anymore, so she just decided to come out and say it before her brain could stop her again, "Mom, I'm bisexual!"

Maria just stared at her, with a neutral expression on her face.

"I've known that I like girls for a long time, I was just too afraid to tell you." Meghan looked at Ela, "And Ela isn't just a friend, she's my girlfriend. We've been dating for a little over a month now. I should have told you about her immediately, but I was afraid that you wouldn't approve." She felt like she was about to cry again, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Meghan looked back at her mother, instead of anger or disappointment, she gave her a warm smile before wrapping her arms around her, "Thank you for sharing this with me."

Meghan gladly returned the hug, "You're not mad?"

"Of course not, how could I be?" Maria soothed, "After all that you've accomplished and all that you've been through, I could never be more proud to have you as a daughter."

Meghan now felt like she was about to cry tears of joy, "I love you mom."

"I love you too sweetie." Maria let go of the SEAL and turned her attention to Ela, "And you dear. How could I disapprove of the person who saved my baby's life." She then wrapped her arms around the Polish girl, "Thank you again for taking care of my daughter. I only ask that, as her girlfriend, you please continue looking after her, you know how she can be."

"Of course I will." Ela was also relieved that Maria approved of them being together. Both operators now felt like a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

"I'm sorry this is what it took for you to find out." Meghan said, referring to her injury.

"Oh sweetie, I found out a long time ago, I was just waiting for you to tell me."

"What do you mean?" Meghan asked, confused. Ela was now confused as well.

"I've known that you were interested in girls for years now." Maria explained, "I also knew that this was a very big and personal thing to deal with that was also none of my business. So instead of prodding, I decided to wait until you were comfortable with telling me. I was beginning to think you were never going to tell me."

Meghan didn't know what to think, her mother knew all along, but didn't say anything for the sake of keeping her comfortable and happy. Part of her was thankful and appreciative, another part wished that she did confront her so this conversation could have been over with a long time ago, "How did you find out?"

"Remember your little 'anarchy' phase?" She said bluntly.

"My what?"

"This." Maria reached into the purse she was carrying and pulled out a photo, "After this I had a hunch that you might be interested in the same sex."

Meghan looked at the old picture of herself in horror, "Oh my God, why do you have that?!"

"This was when she was on the swim team." She turned to show the picture to Ela.

"She doesn't need to see that!" Meghan tried to swipe the photo from her mothers hand, but it was too late.

Ela looked at the photo and raised her eyebrows in surprise. It appeared to be taken while Meghan was still in high school. The sides of her head were completely shaved, the hair on the top of her head was spiked up, and to top it all off, there was a leopard print bandana wrapped around her neck. Ela's surprise quickly turned into laughter, which she tried to suppress.

"It's not funny!" Meghan shouted.

"I'm not laughing." Ela lied.

"I didn't think it was that blatantly obvious."

"I think the reason why no one knew you were bisexual was because they all thought you were full blown lesbian."

Ela and Maria burst out laughing while Meghan covered her face to hide her embarrassment. This is definitely not how she thought her mother would react.

Three operators sat outside of Six's office, waiting for the meeting to start. Three times this meeting had been scheduled and rescheduled, thanks to the leaders busy and inconsistent workload.

Now Monika, Emma and Mark were waiting to be called in, half expecting to be told that they would have to return at a later time yet again.

"The three of you can come in now." Came her voice from inside the office. The three of them walked inside and saw the woman sitting at her desk, "Thank you all for coming, and apologies for the delays."

"It's alright ma'am." Monika said, "What do you need from us?"

"Well, as I said, we have three new operators joining us in a couple weeks." She explained, "Same old routine, take them in and get them situated."

"We can do that, who are they?" Emma asked.

"I have their files right here." Six pulled out the three files of the new joins, "Twitch. Your assigned operator comes from the South Korean 707th Special Mission Battalion." She handed the French woman the file, "Her name is Grace Nam, codename Dokkaebi."

Emma took the file and skimmed over it, "I'll look after her ma'am, you can count on me." She then left the room.

"Mute."

Mark stepped up and nodded.

"Your new colleague is also coming from the 707th." She handed him the file, "His name is Chul Kyung Hwa, codename Vigil."

Mark took the file and similar to Emma, quickly skimmed through the information. When he was done, he simply nodded and took his leave.

"IQ."

The remaining operator stepped up to the desk.

"Your new comer is from Poland's Operational and Maneuvering Response Group."

"GROM, same as Ela." Monika thought.

"The assigned operators name is Zofia Bosak."

"Bosak, same as…"

"Wait, what?!"

Author's note: Not going to lie, I struggled with this one but at least its finally finished. I wanted to get Meghan's coming out scene right and although I don't think it's perfect, I'm happy with it. And yes that was a reference to her American Anarchy headgear. Also, I know Mute speaks in game but I love the idea of him not speaking whatsoever in this story. As always, hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave a review. Until next time.